


And I Will Hold On To You

by darkmarkburning, staybeautiful



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Friends to Lovers, Louis is Prime Minister, M/M, Pining, and Harry loves puns, so there's more poutine than usual, thats it thats the fic, this takes place in Canada, trigger warning for Donald Trump
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-12
Updated: 2017-12-12
Packaged: 2019-02-13 18:24:17
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 23,257
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12989889
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/darkmarkburning/pseuds/darkmarkburning, https://archiveofourown.org/users/staybeautiful/pseuds/staybeautiful
Summary: “I can’t believe my best friend is about to be Prime Minister of Canada,” Harry whispered in his ear, his arms tight around Louis’ shoulders. “Who decided it was a good idea to let some brash kid from Doncaster run a country?”“I don’t know,” Louis laughed into his shoulder, “but if you promise not to tell them they’ve made a mistake I’ll give you a posh office.”“You’ve got yourself a deal, Tomlinson.” Harry pulled away and smacked a kiss onto Louis’ cheek. “I’m proud of you, Lou, I can’t fucking believe it, but I’m proud of you.”or Louis has just been elected Prime Minister of Canada and Harry is his best friend since childhood.





	And I Will Hold On To You

**Author's Note:**

> So slight disclaimer: Louis' character is based loosely off of Justin Trudeau and they share some similar fanaticism towards their looks/character. By this, we mean that a lot of the strange references or funny things that happen to Louis' during his leadership were based off of funny news articles we saw about Justin Trudeau and the general thirst a lot of people have for him. If you are looking for any specifics we would be happy to link you to them and laugh again. Also, the election results mostly reflect the results in 2015. This is no way goes into Trudeau's politics or policies. Although we do spend a section on some American politics, sorry if that makes you uncomfortable at all. 
> 
> That being said! We want to say a big thank you to [Vilja](http://hlficpraise.tumblr.com/) for being a fantastic cheerleader as we slogged through this for seven months. We kept up a steady mantra as we wrote of, "Imagine how much V will die when she reads this!" and thank you for being a wonderful Beta <3
> 
> If you want to listen to what we listened to when writing, you can find a playlist [here](https://open.spotify.com/user/imytrouble/playlist/6OEOj6qY0CTBVYByMziIve).
> 
> Title is from New Year's Day by Taylor Swift.

Life was glorious and Louis was very, very drunk. They had won. No, scratch that, they hadn’t just won, they won with nearly 40% of the vote and had a gain of 150 seats - that was the most  _ ever _ since Confederation. No other party had ever rebounded from third place to majority government. They did that.  _ He _ did that. 

He had been drunk since he finished his victory speech. Okay, so he had taken a few shots while they were waiting for results to come in as well, just in case it turned into a concession speech. Thankfully, that particular sheet of paper had remained tucked and folded in his pocket. The crowd he spoke to in Toronto went absolutely nuts and Louis felt on top of the world.

And when he left the stage Harry was there with open arms. 

“I can’t believe my best friend is about to be Prime Minister of Canada,” Harry whispered in his ear, his arms tight around Louis’ shoulders. “Who decided it was a good idea to let some brash kid from Doncaster run a country?”

“I don’t know,” Louis’ laughed into his shoulder, “but if you promise not to tell them they’ve made a mistake I’ll give you a posh office.”

“You’ve got yourself a deal, Tomlinson.” Harry pulled away and smacked a kiss onto Louis’ cheek. “I’m proud of you, Lou, I can’t fucking believe it, but I’m proud of you.”

They left the crowd with confetti floating down and balloons bouncing against the ceiling for the hotel up the road where the Liberal Party was holding a celebratory party. There were thirty or forty of them in the rented out bar. Louis was leaning against the bar with a tumbler in one hand and a bottle of Scotch in the other. His cheeks were warm from the whiskey and from all of the congratulations. Liam, their Campaign Manager, had been with him just a few moments ago, but he lost track of him in the crowd. He could see Niall and Harry by the food in the corner and he was about to get up and go to them when Anna, the President of the party, stood on a chair in the center of the room with her glass raised. 

“I’d like to propose a toast,” she said. “Four years ago we had one of the worst showings in party history and since then we have worked tirelessly to reform our party’s image, to unify its goals, and to liken ourselves to the Canadian people. Tonight, I believe we showed how far we have come. I, for one, am ready for a new era of the Liberal Party. Let us toast to our success tonight and to the next five years, may we continue to achieve great things.”

She raised her class and took a drink. 

Louis clinked his glass with the two Senators near him and tossed back what was left in his glass. He left it on the bar and moved through the crowd with his bottle of whiskey aloft. He  clinked it against glasses as he passed, gulping down mouthfuls from the bottle as he moved towards Harry and Niall.

We he reached them he extended the bottle in their direction. Niall  tapped a near empty glass against his and then swallowed what was left in it. 

Harry tapped the bottle with a piece of bread. 

It was because Louis was drunk that it took him a moment. He stood paused with his mouth opened a little before he snapped back to reality. “What the fuck, Harry?”

“He’s done that to half the people in the room,” Niall said around a rather large piece of cake. “I've already informed him you're gonna kill him.”

Louis’ eyed Harry skeptically until he spoke.

“I’m toasting, Lou,” Harry said with a cheeky grin. He held up the bread and waggled it a bit in front of Louis’ face before popping it into his mouth.

Louis blinked at him twice and his mouth turned down in a grimace. “You need to leave.”

Harry let out a barking laugh. “That’s the best pun I’ve ever made in my life, you should be proud of me.”

“Get the hell out of my party,” Louis said, but his eyes were bright and he was fighting back a grin.

“Don’t be like that, Lou. You knead me in your loaf.” Harry giggled.

Louis groaned, rolled his head back and stared at the ceiling. “Why are we friends?” He muttered to himself.

"Because S and T are next to each other in the alphabet and Mr. Fleming was very unoriginal,” Harry said cheerily, chewing on a bit of cheese. “Year seven was probably the best time of your life, just you wheat and see.”

Louis was still staring at the ceiling, but he managed to groan again, doing his best to hide the bit of laughter trying to force its way out. “Nevermind, you stay here,” Louis said gesturing with his bottle, “and I’m gonna go over there.”

He chuckled a little as he walked away and he heard Harry behind him say to Niall, “Well, I think that’s scone swimmingly.”

He was glad he wasn’t still there or he would have smacked Harry. And that wasn't how a Prime Minister should act. He was pretty sure it was in some handbook.  _ Rule #37: Do not smack your idiot best mate, no matter how much you think he deserves it _ .

Louis spent the rest of the night moving around the rest of the party, shaking hands with Senators, taking shots with his future cabinet members, and constantly smiling. 

He knew, he didn’t need to read it in the paper in the morning, that he had achieved something great. He was only thirty five, the youngest Prime Minister Canada had ever had, by a few good years as well. Thankfully, he wasn’t the only one taking on the role unmarried, but he was surely the only one who was ever gay. Not even the only one the public knew about. He didn’t know that something could feel this good. But here he was, absolutely crushing life, and it was bloody brilliant. 

Hours and hours later, the room had started to clear out and he was slumped against Niall on a peachy love seat in the back of the room. His bottle of Scotch was empty and there were six or seven glasses on the table next to them, creating sticky rings on the surface. Louis was glad he had rented a room upstairs to stay in for the night. He couldn’t imagine having to walk outside or even trying to pick the correct key off his ring to his apartment. At this point, he might just stay down in the bar tonight, Niall was making an especially comfortable pillow. 

“Feels like old times, doesn’t it, Nialler?” Louis slurred into Niall’s shoulder. 

“As long as you don’t vomit on me again,” Niall said, his Irish accent heavy around the alcohol. “Don’t need a repeat of Frosh Week. You almost got us banned from the 24 hour Tim Horton’s. You could have ruined college for me.”

“I had too much $2 Chow Mein, it wasn’t my fault,” Louis mumbled. 

“Don’t you dare blame Chow Mein for your mistakes,” Niall said in mock outrage. Louis smiled sleepily against his shoulder. They had been having the same argument for the last fifteen years. They had met on the first day of orientation at McGill and clung to each other through that first ridiculous, drunken week. Somehow, they had now both ended up in this room as highly ranking members of the majority party. Neither of them would have even imagined that with all the shit they were getting into at eighteen. 

Niall shook his shoulder a bit to nudge Louis awake. “Your boy’s coming.”

“Liam?” Louis said, turning to look out at the room.

“Harry, you idiot. Liam left like two hours ago, where have you even been?”

“I’m a popular man, Niall, I can’t keep track of everyone in here,” Louis said, scoffing and tossing his head back. 

“You’re wasted,” Niall laughed. 

“Watch your mouth, I’m perfect,” Louis said indignantly.

"Sure, Lou.” Niall rolled his eyes with a smirk on his face.

Louis felt an arm snake around his back and pull him up by the waist. “I've got you, Lou,” Harry murmured. 

When Louis was on his feet, he pushed himself a bit off Harry so he was mostly supporting himself. “I've got it,” Louis said with a huff. 

“Sure,” Harry said with a chuckle. 

Louis walked only a little unsteadily through the bar, grabbing his suit jacket from where he had discarded it at the start of the night, and said goodbye to the remaining party members. Harry trailed behind him with a bemused look on his face. 

When they made it to the elevator, after walking through the lobby where Louis gave his best possible impression of being sober and Prime Minister like, he slumped against Harry as soon as the doors closed. 

It was a slow ride up to their floor and by the time the doors opened again he felt just about asleep. 

"Almost there, Lou,” Harry said, half carrying him down the hallway. When they were stood outside the door, he could feel Harry pawing at his pockets for his key, but he was too sleepy to open his mouth and tell him where it was at. He'd find it eventually. 

And he did after giving Louis’ bum a good grope. 

Harry tossed Louis onto the bed once they entered the room. He reached down and yanked off Louis’ shoes. 

“I can do it, H,” Louis said unconvincingly. He hadn't even made an effort to help. 

“Come on, get your trousers,” Harry insisted. 

Louis grumbled a bit before managing to wrangle them off while still lying down. Harry made quick work of the buttons on his shirt and was even kind enough to hang it up in the small closet. 

Louis scooted up in the bed and into the covers before speaking, “You gonna stay here?” 

Harry sighed heavily, but Louis knew it was all for show. Harry had his own room a few doors down, but he knew Louis liked a cuddle when he'd had a few. Not that Harry didn't like it just as much.

“Yeah, alright.”

Louis grinned into the pillow, drooling slightly, as Harry pulled his own trousers and shirt off and climbed in next to him. He switch off the light and Louis could only faintly see the outline of Harry's face in the dark. 

After a moment he whispered, “Hey, H?”

“Yeah, Lou?” Harry whispered back. 

“Can you believe they are letting me run a country?”

“You're gonna be so good, Lou. Best Prime Minister Canada has ever had.”

Louis let out a long breath. “You think?”

“I know it.”

He drifted to sleep then with a small smile on his face. 

\----

In his last year of graduate school Louis accidentally became an activist. It didn’t really start that way.

It started with his advisor, and favorite professor, telling him he should probably start trying to make some professional contacts. He had argued, albeit half heartedly, that he didn’t need anyone else but her. He received a glare in return. 

“The whole job market thing isn’t as easy as it used to be, kid,” Dr. Levesque said, her nose wrinkled with the thought of  _ mingling. _ “I’m glad I’m done with all of that now. But you, dear, should be getting out there. Now is your time.”

“Let me guess,” he huffed. “Jobs don’t just grow on trees?”

“How right you are,” she said and then chuckled as he rolled his eyes.

The thing was, for Louis, they kind of did. He just didn’t know it yet.

“I did some googling for you and I came across some professional groups you could join.” She pushed some papers across her desk towards him. He lifted them up, scanned it quickly and dropped it with a bit of disgust.

“To be honest, this sounds dreadful.”

“Well of course it does!” Dr. Levesque leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms. “But you can’t let that brain of yours go to waste, so you’re going to have to go out there and do something about it.”

Louis ended up putting the papers in his bag, even though he groaned and complained about it for the rest of their meeting. He knew she wasn’t wrong, but he didn’t really want to awkwardly join a bunch of adults and have to actually pretend to blend in. Networking, he knew, was about to become his necessary evil.

He thought about it for his whole walk back to his apartment. And he thought about it while he mindlessly watched a  _ Property Brothers  _ marathon. 

Harry came home from class as the room started to go dark and he realized he had been sitting alone in front of the glow from the TV for several hours. Harry collapsed next to him without a word and sunk down low enough to drop his head on Louis’ shoulder and push his feet up onto the coffee table.

“You would not believe the shit I had to hear today, Haz,” Louis said flatly. Harry grunted in response and Louis shot him a quick glare for his lack of reaction.

“Dr. Levesque,  _ Karen _ , told me I had to join an adult playgroup, essentially. To make contacts and shit.” He flailed back against the couch dramatically and groaned up to the ceiling. “Why would she do me like this.”

Harry picked a bit of lint off the front of Louis’ sweater. “She wants you to succeed, I guess. Either that, or she wants you to join some kind of orgy party. Is that what she meant?”

“I feel like that would be more enjoyable.”

“I don’t see why you couldn’t do both,” Harry reasoned. “I'm sure people at orgy parties are very friendly. You could make loads of contacts.”

Louis hummed in agreement and they watched silently for a few more minutes as Jonathan explained the design process to a couple on TV. 

When it went to commercial Louis spoke, “I have to, right?”

“You don't have to, but you should.” Harry said solemnly. “It could be good. You never know. You could meet all sorts of future or current educators just like you who can't wait to change the world. Maybe you could achieve world peace.”

“I feel like we both know that's not going to happen, but okay.”

They lounged until Harry got up to make dinner and Louis followed him into the kitchen to sit on the counter and scuff up the cabinets while he cooked. 

In the morning he yanked out the list from his backpack and scoured it for the group that least made him want to hurl. He drew a star in red ink next to his chosen group, it seemed small and centered on the Toronto area, which appealed to him. He was feeling okay about it. He shot off a quick email to Dr. Levesque to let her know he was going to a meeting next week. 

He surprised himself by actually going on the next Tuesday. And then the Tuesday after that. And for drinks on Thursday. And all of a sudden it had been a whole month. 

It wasn't necessarily good, but it was okay. The guys were kind of pricks, but Dr. Levesque was right because he was meeting good people. And it wasn't necessarily as bad as he thought it would be. 

At the start of April, only a few short weeks away from graduation, the group un-tabled a topic they’d had on hold since before Louis joined. And this was when he realized he was well and truly fucked. He listened to them discuss with his ears practically bleeding and he didn’t say a goddamn word because he was too shocked to form a coherent sentence. He left in a daze and by the time he made it back home he was livid.

He slammed the door open and stood on the welcome mat with a huff before stepping inside and slamming the door closed. 

“Harry!” He yelled into the apartment. He waited a moment before yelling it again while kicking off his shoes and dropping his bag by the small table by the door. 

“Harry Styles, where the fuck are you?” He bellowed into the empty apartment. 

Harry came running out of the bathroom in a towel slung around his hips and soap dripping down the side of his face. 

“What is it? What happened?” He was breathing heavy, clearly startled, and Louis almost felt bad. Almost. Now that Louis was paying attention he could hear the shower running. Whoops. 

“ _ Those bastards _ ,” Louis said in a menacing whisper. 

"Which bastards?” Harry whispered back. He wiped his face with the back of his hand and smudged the soap back into his hairline. “Can I get back in the shower now?”

“The bastards in my stupid club! And no you can't! There is a serious situation!”

“Can you tell me then because my skin is starting to dry and the soap is getting gross.” Harry touched his chest and his fingers got stuck there for a second before pulling off. Harry's mouth turned down in a frown. 

“Just, how dare these people call themselves educators! They want to tear down the park right there next to the primary school! I drove by it on my way home and it was full of children! They want to put in a parking deck!”

“But why would they tear it down?”

“Corrupted pieces of shit, that's why. Carol’s husband thinks we need more available parking for his strip mall and she thought it would be just dandy for us to petition the city council to put in a parking garage to ‘benefit the growth of the city and its small business’ like her husband doesn’t drive a fucking range rover.” Louis was steaming, but at least Harry now appeared to be paying attention. “The city council had tabled it for the past two months while they were waiting on soil tests and a survey to come back and then it finally fucking did.”

“And they are going ahead with it?”

“They literally brought out sparkling cider to toast to the destruction of the children’s playground,” Louis scoffed. “I thought I was going to vomit.”

“But they are all educators!” Harry flung both of his arms up in protest and then dropped one just as quick when his towel started to slip down his hips.

“I know!”

“This is ridiculous,” Harry muttered, running a hand through his hair in aggravation and then frowning when it came away sticky with drying soap. “I’m going to go wash this out and then we are going to figure out what to do.”

“There’s nothing to do, Haz. They’ve already voted. It’s happening.”

“We are going to figure it out,” Harry said walking back towards the bathroom. Over his shoulder he called, “We’ll scheme if we have to!”

Louis smiled fondly. Harry was honestly the best for wanting to help, but this might even be beyond scheming.It seemed odd to Louis that he didn't feel like scheming now. Fourteen year old Louis would have been shocked and mildly horrified that he would give up the opportunity for a little trouble, but he had been naive and dumb at fourteen. Now he knew that city officials and corporations had more power than he and Harry did. 

So when Harry came back from the shower and he started railing on ideas and what they could do Louis listened and nodded his head, but he didn’t really believe. And honestly, he knew Harry could tell he was defeated, because they didn’t talk about it again after that night. 

He still kept going to his group's meetings even though he died a little bit each time because he didn’t really know how to tell them they shouldn’t do it and he didn’t know how to stop going. So he went, for weeks he went, and finally he was awake early on a Saturday morning to meet them for the tearing down of the park. He considered dressing in all black, like a thief, like he was in mourning. 

He ended up buttoning up a blue dress shirt and putting on a pair of gray trousers, hating himself a little for trying to look like them. 

He peaked his head into Harry’s room because he wanted to moan one last time about what was about to happen, but his bed was suspiciously empty. Yeah, he was an early riser. But usually if he was up he was in the living room with a cup of tea and toast. That morning he was nowhere to be found. Odd.

He didn’t have a lot of time to worry about it though, he was running late enough as it was. 

They were meeting at a coffee shop just down the street with a writer for the  _ Toronto Sun _ and a photographer. Carol was already speaking with the reporter, no doubt spouting the same nonsense she had at their meetings. The President of the group, Phil, had a hard hat underneath his arm, clearly ready for whatever photoshoot might arise. 

At ten to eight they started shuffling out of the coffee shop and then Phil and the reporter led the group down the street towards the park. Louis was near the back of the group and the photographer was next to him taking some artsy shots of them all walking like it was a photoshoot for a band or some shit.

“So,” Louis started, turning slightly to the photographer. She was youngish, around the same age as him maybe, they were definitely the two youngest people in the group. He tried to keep his tone casual. “What do you think of all this?”

“The park, you mean?” She asked, still looking straight ahead and getting a few shots. 

He grunted in response. She looked over at his briefly, lowering her camera  little. “Are you Louis?”

“Yeah,” he answered. “How did you know my name?”

“Harry told me, obviously,” she looked at him a little confused. “Didn’t he tell you?”

“Tell me what?”

The group in front of him had stopped and he settled in behind them, but he was still looking at the photographer.

“About that,” she said, nodding her head to the park in front of them. He snapped his head forward and then had to hold back a startled laugh.

There was a sign strung up between the swingset and the slide that said “Save Our Park!” and there were thirty or so people standing quietly with signs all around the space in front of them. Some were students like himself, some were parents with their children and some were older people from the neighborhood. He could see Harry off to the side grinning at him like an idiot. 

When Louis had given up, Harry had taken action. He gathered all these people and he made signs and he got up at the crack of dawn to stand out here for something he believed in. Louis was honestly floored. 

Phil stepped up to speak to the person right in front of him, a woman with a baby strapped to her chest, but he spoke loud enough for everyone to hear him. “It’s time for you all to move along. This has been sanctioned by the city. Come now, let these good men do their jobs.” He gestured to the far left of the park where a group of construction workers were leaning against a bulldozer looking bored.

The woman looked to her left and smiled slightly. The people around her lifted their signs up higher and started chanting, “Parks not parking! Parks not parking!”

Phil looked flustered. He could see a few other people in his group looking aggravated near the front. 

The photographer next to him was snapping photos at a rapid speed. Louis realized now she had probably known all along about the protest. 

“Don’t make me call the police!” Phil shouted at the crowd, who ignored him and kept chanting and raising their signs into the sky. He huffed in their direction, seemingly from their lack of response. Louis could see Carol next to him, and she looked pissed. Which, not going to lie, brought him a lot of joy.

Louis was still hanging back in the group, kind of unsure what side to join. He obviously believed in what Harry was doing, but he was a little apprehensive about betraying the people in his group. Even though he didn’t like them very much, he had joined to form professional contacts and he had, but was he now going to just burn all that work to the ground?

He wasn’t so sure. 

Ten minutes or so later the group was still chanting, but they were now saying, “Stop the chop! Stop the chop!” The group had actually grown in size since they had started. Some passers-by had joined in once they saw what the commotion was about. Louis actually felt kind of like an asshole standing there in his button-down shirt and pressed trousers next to a guy with a hard hat under his arm. He knew, as he had since the beginning, that he was on the wrong side. 

He heard a car pull up on the street behind him and he turned to see that Phil had in fact called the police. Two officers got out of the car and a news van pulled up right behind them. 

He was far enough back, and there was so much noise from the protest, that he couldn't actually hear what was being said. But he could see the officers talking with Phil and then the woman with the baby, who Phil must have indicated was leading the protest. Louis couldn’t help the small quirk of a smile at how wrong they were, and that if he knew Harry at all, this was to his advantage.

Louis could see from the back of the group that the police were trying to shuffle them along and some people seemed to be actually moving. With the signs moving and the bodies shuffling you couldn’t actually see what was going on. 

But once the space cleared out, Louis understood that whole movement was on purpose and that in fact only a handful of people actually left. Instead, people had chained themselves to the playground equipment and the trees around the park. They had done it so seamlessly that his entire group didn’t have any idea what was actually happening. Even the police seemed stuck. 

“Holy shit,” he muttered under his breath. 

“It was amazing, right?” The photographer said back, a little breathless. “I can’t wait to see how these photos came out.”

Louis nodded his head back absentmindedly. He searched the protesters to find Harry, and found him in the same position as before, namely with a chain wrapped around Harry’s waist and his back against a tree. 

Louis looked back to the group and saw they were all a little dumbfounded as to what to do. Phil was conferring with the police again and Carol looked ready to start the bulldozer herself. 

“So, what are you going to do?” The photographer said to him, raising an eyebrow. 

Louis let out a big sigh and then said, “Oh fuck it.”

He stepped out of the group and caught sight of Harry grinning impossibly wide at him. He knew he was making the right choice. He didn’t want to be aligned with people like this anywhere. There was nowhere they could help him get that he even wanted to go. 

He walked up the side of where his group was congregated and a few of them looked at him with odd expressions. He had been very quiet about what was going on.

“Sorry guys,” he shrugged. He looked Phil in the eyes and spoke, “but I think you’re wrong.”

He walked over to Harry at the tree who he could tell was holding in his laughter. Harry handed Louis a pair of handcuffs with a wink and Louis cuffed himself to the chain around the tree. 

The members of the club were all staring at him a little shocked and the protesters had quieted down. Harry leaned over and whispered in his ear, “Give a speech Lou. You started this, now you have to finish it.” 

Louis looked at him, a little dumbfounded. He hadn't really done  _ anything.  _ Harry nudged his shoulders against Louis’ and said quietly, “You can do it, I be-leaf in you.” 

Not for the first time in their long friendship, Louis was torn between slapping Harry and hugging him.

\---

“You’ll be fine,” Liam told him for the millionth time, his tone just as monotone as it had been after the sixth time he’d told Louis the same thing, like he was done with Louis’ dramatics. 

“I don't even know why I made you Chief of Staff,” Louis glared at him. 

“Because you needed someone to run your campaign and you wanted to actually win, and after that, well, you couldn’t really afford to let me go, could you?” Liam’s tone did not change, not even a little bit. Louis wanted to punch him.

“He did bring the  _ Payne  _ on the opposition for you, Lou,” Harry grinned from his spot on the couch in Louis’ office. Louis wanted to punch him too.

"Maybe I should practice my speech one more time,” Louis said instead.

“Oh God, please no,” Harry whined, throwing his head back on the couch. “We've heard it a million times, it's good. It's the best speech ever. Can we just go in and you can appoint me Minister of Badassery, and move on?”

Louis was  _ really _ tempted to punch him. 

“Idiotic suggestions aside,” Liam said, rolling his eyes. “Minister of Badassery over there has a point. The speech is good, you've got it down. It's just like the campaign trail, only without trying to convince the masses of how much better a candidate you are. You've already done that, now you just need to address your Ministers. Be cool and confident, be yourself.”

Be himself, yeah he could do that. He did that everyday.

“I wouldn't go as far as calling him cool, Liam,” Harry said. “But, I did see a Buzzfeed article this morning that called him a Certified Babe.”

“See! There you go, Louis,” Liam said with a laugh.

“I also saw that someone carved a statue of you cuddling a polar bear out of butter,” Harry said with a smirk.

“Out of butter?” Liam questioned.

“Why with a polar bear?” Louis asked.

Harry shrugged and started to giggle, “Butter you than me though.”

Louis sighed dramatically, “You’re getting demoted before you even get the job.”

“Oh come on Lou,” Harry managed out through a fit of giggles. “We are butter together!”

“No.”

“You could make me the Minister of Justice and Butter-ny General!”

“You're going to be the Minister of My Fist In Your Face in about two seconds,” Louis glared at his stupid best friend.

“Okay, enough,” Liam sighed dramatically. “Louis, get your arse to the conference room, and go make the damned speech we spent days writing.”

“But--,” Louis started. 

“But nothing,” Liam crossed his arms. “You have five seconds to leave this office before I pick you up and carry you over my shoulder. There are a lot of staff members outside, and as your chief of staff, I should advise you that  _ that  _ is not the look you want on your first day as Prime Minister.”

Louis stared at him for a moment, trying to determine how serious he was. It only took him a second to see that Liam meant what he said 100%, and so, before his five seconds were up, he was on his way out the door, Harry snickering after him. Louis noticed Harry grab a bag from next to him as he followed him out, but he decided not to comment. It was probably better for his nerves and Harry’s face not to mention it right now. 

It had been a little over two weeks since the election and everything had been a whirlwind since. He’d been in and out of phone meetings with leaders around the world, being introduced and getting prepared to get down to work. He’d moved into Rideau Cottage while 24 Sussex was undergoing massive renovations. Which was fine with Louis. He didn’t have much use for all the extra rooms, unless his family was coming to visit. 

Moving had been a more ridiculous affair than he had anticipated. Harry, who had been his roommate since his second year of uni, was going to be his Head of Household - partially because they’d lived together for the better part of their lives, and partially because Louis was a hot mess when it came to being clean and paying the bills. Thankfully Harry was not. So it was a perfect match.

Except when they had movers unloading all of their things and Harry stood by the door in a floral Hawaiian shirt, that was probably Gucci or some shit, with only one button done up and two pairs of sunglasses on, big, white bug glasses on his face, and black ray bans buried in his hair, and he was freaking out about his plants. Louis stood with his face in his hands for ten minutes, unable to even look Harry in the face. 

The problem was this: only three of his four potted herb plants had made it inside safely. He had successfully guided the placement of Nicolas Sage, Katnip Everdeen, and Gnarls Parlsey, but either the last one had been left in Toronto, or it disappeared on the truck. 

Harry just kept saying at varying volumes, from a high pitched scream to a sad whisper, “but where is Cilantronio Banderas?”

But that was last week and Louis could finally look Harry in the eyes again without simultaneously wanting to slap him and laugh in his face. This week he had to be Prime Minister-like. Now he was on his way to his first Cabinet Meeting and it was a  _ big deal. _

He steadied himself as they walked to the conference room, trying to gain back the confidence he had during the campaign. Where the hell was that guy? No, better question, what the hell was he doing? He’d literally wiped the floor with the opposition. Their party had done something no one else had been able to in the history of the country, probably the world. And  _ he  _ had been part of that, from start to finish he had sat in the meetings on reshaping the party and moving forward. It had been some of his ideas that brought them here. Like having such a huge presence on social media to get younger voters interested, that was him amongst other things. He could do this. 

He walked into the room, cool and confident. His appointed cabinet members stood and clapped as he took his place at the conference table, Harry and Liam flanking him. “Ladies and gentlemen,” he greeted, a grin on his face when they quieted down. “We made it, now let's get shit done.”

They clapped again. Niall, his Minister of Food and Agriculture, whooped and high-fived everyone around him as they all took their seats until Perrie, his Minister of Foreign Affairs threw something at him. Only Louis remained standing, silently hoping that that wasn't how Perrie was going to handle diplomacy with foreign governments. “We entered this race knowing our priority was going to be Canada’s future. That was the dream we sold, and by God and luck, they believed us. So let's do our best to make that dream a reality,” he said. “I know everyone in this room is the most capable at their jobs. You guys are the best. But what I'm going to need from you is to be better than your best, and I think, no I know, the way we start is by making good on our promise to fix the education system. Nothing is more important than our children’s futures in this country.”

Harry coughed obnoxiously next to him, which made Louis roll his eyes. “Evidently, more importantly than  _ our country’s future _ ,” he looked pointedly at Harry, who just grinned back at him, “is to appoint Harry here as my Special Advisor.”

Harry stood and took a bow to a few laughs around the room, most notably Niall’s honking face in the back. “Why thank you, Prime Minister Louis. I promise to hold this office with the utmost respect and honor it deserves.”

“You don't get an office,” Liam pinched the bridge of his nose, sighing.

“I don't get an office?” Harry demanded, affronted.

“No,” Liam said.

“I'm  _ not  _ working in a cubicle,” Harry said.

“Does the building even have cubicles?” Niall asked, pausing on the chip he was putting in his mouth. 

“How should I know, we've only been here for a day, Niall,” Harry said indignantly.

“No, it doesn't,” Louis sighed. Honestly, he was beginning to question his own sanity. “As I was saying, Harry is advisor, he doesn't have an office  _ or a cubicle _ ,” he added when Harry looked like he was about to say something, “feel free to ignore him, I usually do.”

Harry scoffed. “You've never ignored me a day in your life.”

“Can we move on?” Liam said loudly, when Louis opened his mouth to retort. Well, that was rude. 

“Yes,” Louis turned to address the rest of his cabinet, all of whom looked amused. Well, that little display would have probably gone differently if they weren't Canadian. “As I was saying, we made promises to see to the betterment of our children’s educations, and that's what we are going to do. Our Minister of Families, Children and Social Development as well as the Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development have an agenda to discuss about a possible bill. Jade, Luke, if you will.” 

He sat down to let his two Ministers lead the charge on their plans. Louis listened, though he'd already been briefed on everything they were going to say. He smiled to himself, as he watched his cabinet listen intently, nodding along to many of the points Luke and Jade made. Even Harry was paying attention, well until Louis looked over at him. Harry flashed him his best grin before turning back to the two Ministers speaking. Louis smiled and sat back in his chair. He had no idea why he had been so worried.

Later, several of them clapped him on the back as they walked out. He leaned back in his chair when only Harry and Liam remained with him and sighed. He'd done it. He'd gotten through his first cabinet meeting as Prime Minister, and even more shockingly, he had done it without smacking Harry once. 

“That went well,” Liam commented, looking over a few notes he had made. “You could have asked the Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness for the latest tornado warning numbers, but that's okay, it's fine, next time.”

Louis rolled his eyes. “I think we're safe from tornadoes, Liam.”

“You don't know that,” Liam snapped, which made Louis snicker.

Harry was surprisingly quiet, which was often concerning. Louis looked over at him and saw the bag Harry had brought from his office now sat in front of him on the table. “Okay, I'll bite, what's in the bag?” he asked finally.

Harry grinned and opened it, pulling out a stuffed animal. It was a seal. Oh no, Louis had a good idea of where this was going and he immediately regretted asking. Harry handed him the seal and said, “This, Prime Minister Lou, is your seal of approval. Congratulations.”

Louis looked at the seal in his hands for a moment, completely speechless. Then, he got up, and walked out of the conference room. Liam rolled his eyes. Nobody commented on the fact that Louis had taken the seal, thankfully. He would have had to smack Harry if he had. 

\---

It probably wasn’t a good sign that Louis had to get drunk after meeting the President of the United States, but well, when the President of United States was Donald J. Trump, there wasn’t really much else he could do. He’d known the meeting would go bad weeks before it happened, not that he’d ever really harbored any hope, but when his invitation arrived it came with a room booked in Trump’s hotel. Liam had said it would be rude to decline, so Louis begrudgingly had a floor booked out for his staff and security. He yelled about abuse of power for days after.

He’d texted Harry immediately upon leaving the White House to head back to the Trump International Hotel to meet him in the hotel bar. Normally, he would have brought Harry with him on these meetings, under the guise of ‘special advisor’, but Louis knew very well what Harry thought of Trump, and well, he wasn’t exactly sure Harry wouldn’t say something to insult Trump’s ego and potentially start a war. He also didn’t want to admit it out loud, but he was a little afraid Trump or Pence would say something rude about him and Harry, and then Louis would have been the one starting a war, and let’s be real, Canada wasn’t militarily prepared for that.

Harry had met him in a booth in the back of the swanky bar and they’d proceeded to get properly pissed. Louis complained about his meeting in more and more hushed tones as the night went on. 

Louis leaned his whole body across the table and whispered near Harry’s mouth, “He kept introducing me to people as ‘Louis from Canada’ like we aren’t in equally high ranking positions. Like honestly, it probably pissed me off more than it should have. I started calling him ‘Mr. Trump.”

“You should have called him Cheeto face,” Harry whispered back into Louis’ face. “Or asked him where he got his spray tans.”

“I don’t know if I should be relieved or offended he didn’t ask me to go golfing,” Louis said leaning back in the booth.

Harry leaned forward, keeping the distance between them the same, his eyes bright from the five martinis he’d thrown back, “You’re a horrible golfer, darling.”

Louis let out a barking laugh and then smacked his hand over his mouth. He looked around to see if the bartender had noticed. The drunker they got, the more he was convinced Trump had spies in his hotel. When he quietly wrote this on a napkin to Harry, and slid it across the table with a raised eyebrow, Harry looked around rather suspiciously before nodding vigorously. That was when they decided to take the party back upstairs to their room. 

He really didn’t pay his secret service enough, because how they managed to get both men upstairs in their state without prying eyes and into Louis’ hotel room, he had no idea. He saluted Paul at the door before stumbling over to a chair and collapsing into it while Harry poured them both another drink. Louis was just aware enough to realize it was a bottle from his own personal office, that Harry had somehow brought with him without Louis knowing. He just started at Harry as he took the offered glass.

“I refuse to give that man any more money than we have to,” Harry shrugged, as if this was the only logical explanation.

Louis just nodded slowly, deciding not to comment on that as he leaned back in his chair and raised his foot to rest on the seat of Harry’s chair. “Honestly, Haz, you’re lucky you weren’t there. He is an absolute joke. He tried to tell me Canada should pay America for being part of NATO and ‘getting the protection of the United States’.”

“That’s stupid,” Harry rolled his eyes as he rested a hand on Louis’ leg. “He knows what allies are, right? You told him, yeah? And that everyone likes Canada because we’re not tool bags getting involved in everyone’s business? And that we don’t need protection from the enemies America creates against itself?”

“Well, I didn’t want to start a war, so I just said that diplomatic garbage Liam prepared for me,” Louis shrugged. “I almost went off though when he made a comment about how my Minister of Foreign Affairs, which he didn’t even learn Perrie’s name, is very beautiful and thin. Because that’s the most important thing here, how beautiful she is, not how smart she is, not how much of a saint she is for having to deal with his moronic self, but how she’s a 10. A 10!”

“What!” Harry sat up slightly and groaned. “What a pig! I hope you told him off.”

“Yes well, I did, kind of, don’t tell Liam,” Louis grinned sheepishly. Harry smirked and sat back. “I said we didn’t nominate her because she’s beautiful, which she is, but because she is the most qualified for her job, and then proceeded to list her accomplishments and ideas in the foreign policies of the party. I kind of went all the way back to her being Class President her year at uni.” Louis paused and took another drink, before muttering. “Not that he was even fucking listening. But she has a brain, damn it! And however she looks, it’s not for his or anyone else’s benefit.”

“I’m proud of you, Lou,” Harry said as he started tracing patterns along Louis’ leg. “I would have also not been opposed to punching him, but then as I am not the Prime Minister, I can appreciate the added bonus of not having to deal with the fallout.”

“I wish I could have been PM during Obama’s term,” Louis admitted. He almost didn’t want to tell Harry about this, but his drunk words were pouring out. “Then I wouldn’t have to deal with this condescending, close-minded bigot.”

Harry was quick to pick up what Louis was throwing down. His hand tightened on Louis’ leg. “He said something about your sexuality?”

“He made comments about how ‘the gays loved him’, and then in the same breath made comments about how strange Canadians were to elect a gay Prime Minister,” Louis shrugged. He was comfortable with his sexuality, he had been since he came out to his mum at fifteen. They both cried and she had hugged him and told him to always be true to himself and proud of it. It was just the way Trump had said it, while talking about American policies that banned transgender Americans from serving in the military, that made it sound dirty. 

Harry got up quietly and moved over to squish into Louis’ chair with him, putting an arm around his shoulders. “I’m sorry, Lou,” Harry said quietly, placing a light kiss on Louis’ temple. “He doesn’t know what he’s talking about.”

“I know,” Louis sighed as he leaned into Harry’s side. And he did. He was comfortable with who he was, and he knew there was nothing wrong with him. And he knew the majority of Canada, the people who had elected him and his party into the PMO knew that too. He normally didn’t let this stuff get to him, because he knew there were bigots in the world blinded by their own ignorance. It was just something about the leader of the “free world” being so bigoted that pissed Louis off more than usual. Not that he should have been surprised. After all, the man had won the election off that kind of hatred.

“Besides, he doesn’t really have room to talk,” Harry said casually, rubbing Louis’ shoulder. “I’m pretty sure toupée wearing tangerines are pretty high up on the list of people who should not be prejudiced. Oh, maybe we can send him a basket of Hostess Zingers and little Lady Fingers! Or I could dress up as the Cheetos cheetah and bring him the basket myself!”

Louis couldn’t help it, he laughed into Harry’s chest. “You could put on a toupée too. Although, maybe his are hair plugs?”

“Now you’re thinking,” Harry said. “We’ll send a nice note from Perrie rating him a negative 10 too.”

“You’re going to get Canada nuked, Haz,” Louis laughed. “Or at least into a war.”

“Good! We have to fight for Perrie’s honor!” he answered, putting his leg over Louis’ and settling back into the chair. “She’ll probably lead us into battle herself!”

“Please,” Louis smirked. “He couldn’t handle Perrie. She’d wipe the floor with him. We should send Niall in first, throw some poutine at him.”

“Like Niall would ever waste precious cargo,” Harry grinned. 

“He’ll throw something non-edible, then it could work,” Louis nodded in agreement. His arm tightening around Harry’s waist.

“A box of toupées maybe,” Harry suggested. “Fling them out one at a time, yelling that there will be hell toupée!”

“God, I love you,” Louis said, laughing. “I can see it now. Niall throwing toupées at Trump while Perrie stands in the back, ready to attack all the while in stylish boots.”

They both broke into laughter at the image, and Louis, for the first time, realized how close he was to Harry right now. Harry was basically draped over him, in an obvious attempt to comfort him, but still. He couldn’t help but realize he was a little affected by the proximity. His laughter cut off abruptly as he shifted, feeling Harry’s chest move against him with laughter. It had to be the alcohol, he reasoned. Harry was his best friend, and sure, maybe once or twice, when he was first coming to terms with his sexuality, he had imagined Harry as something more, but that was just because Harry was, well - Harry. He was always there, and he’d just gone through a growth spurt and he had gone from cute to handsome, and Louis would be lying if he said he hadn’t spent many late nights thinking about it. But that was ages ago, a lifetime really. He didn’t really think of Harry like that anymore, except in the occasional dream, and well, he couldn’t control his dreams. They didn’t mean anything. Just like Harry being pressed against him in the smallest lounge chair in that big posh suite shouldn’t mean anything.

Yet, Louis couldn’t help but feel like it did. Harry stopped laughing as he noticed the shift in Louis’ demeanor. “Lou? Everything okay?” he asked quietly.

Louis could feel Harry’s breath against his face, and well, that didn’t really help the matter. He didn’t trust himself to speak, so he nodded while staring determinedly at a painting on the wall over Harry’s shoulder. 

Harry looked at his questioningly, and shifted slightly to face him fully. That only made him press more firmly against Louis. He was sure Harry could hear Louis’ heart beating faster. “Lou?” Harry’s voice came out a little rougher, and Louis was sure Harry knew what was going on through Louis’ mind now. “Look at me.”

Louis forced his gaze onto Harry’s, their eyes meeting, and Louis’ breath caught in his throat. Harry definitely knew what Louis was thinking, because he brought a hand up, gently running a finger down Louis’ cheek. “Lou,” he said again quietly. Louis couldn’t think of anything else but leaning forward just a bit and kissing Harry.

Harry’s thumb was running along Louis’ jawline, and Louis closed his eyes, Harry’s gaze too much for him. It was all much right now. “I think we should go to sleep,” Louis said suddenly, despite the fact that that was the last thing he wanted. But he was aware enough to know this was a bad idea. They were drunk and they were best friends, and this was a very bad idea. 

Harry pulled his hand back as if he had been burned, and Louis quickly averted his eyes as he climbed out from Harry’s hold and went into the bathroom. He sighed and leaned back against the door the second it was shut, shutting his eyes tight. 

What the hell was wrong with him? He blamed Trump.

\---

The summer before Louis’ second year at Uni, Harry moved to Canada to start his first year. Louis had spent the summer in Montreal interning at a publishing house because he still had no clue what he wanted to do with an English degree. Since he hadn’t gone home to England, Harry had insisted Louis come to pick him up from the airport with a large sign welcoming him. Harry had always wanted to come off a plane to a big sign, and that seemed like the perfect opportunity. Louis knew he would never hear the end of it if he didn’t, so he stayed up with Niall the night before to make a large glittery sign that read ‘Welcome Haz!’ Niall had added a crude drawing of poutine, that looked like a pile of dicks, and what was supposed to be a bottle of maple syrup, but really just looked like a blob, just to add the Canadian touch, he said. 

Louis would have been lying if he said he wasn’t a tad bit excited. Harry was his best friend after all, and he had missed him. Sure, Niall was great company and Louis had found some amazing friends, but none of them were Harry. Since it was their second year, Niall and Louis had decided to move out of the dorms in favor of a flat, and Harry had immediately been on board with the plan when Louis said they’d found a 3 bedroom place close to campus. 

Now, Louis stood at arrivals with his huge, glittery sign and ignored the strange looks he got, especially when he saw Harry come out of customs, looking tired but excited and hauling all of his bags. Louis refrained from running up to him, just barely, but he didn’t bother to stop himself from immediately grabbing Harry in a tight hug the second he could. “Haz!”

“Lou!” Harry grinned when they pulled apart. His smile grew as he took in the sign. “That’s beautiful!”

“Oh this?” Louis smirked. “Just something I threw together.”

“So you were up all night then?” Harry asked.

“Haven’t slept a wink,” Louis said cheerfully. “Come on then, you dork, let’s go home.”

They drove to their apartment building and Louis helped him bring his bags up to the 13th floor. Thankfully their building had a lift because Louis would have otherwise left him to his own devices. Okay, no he wouldn’t have, but he would have complained the whole way up. “Niall, we’re home!”

Niall came out of his room with a bag of chips in his hand. “Hey mate,” he said with a grin.

“Harry, this is Niall, the coolest Irishman you’ll ever meet,” Louis introduced. “Just don’t get in the middle of him and his food, and you’ll be good. Niall, this is Harry, he’s not a big drinker yet, so go easy on him.”

“No promises,” Niall said while Harry said, “Challenge accepted.”

They both grinned at that. “Nice to meet you, mate. Hope you don’t mind, but I’m a hugger,” Niall said, wiping his chip covered hand on his pants before going in for a hug. 

“I am too,” Harry said, grinning as they hugged. “Niall, I think we’ll get along swimmingly.”

“Definitely,” Niall agreed and held out his bag of chips. “Crisp?”

Louis figured he wouldn’t have to worry, he knew they’d get on well, but seeing it happening made him happy. After all, Niall had become a good friend during their first year, and Harry, well Harry was his best friend, and self-proclaimed life partner. Now, if only they could get Liam over here, everything would be perfect.

Harry’s phone rang then, and speaking of the devil, it was Liam. He was such a mother hen. “Hey Li,” Harry answered. “Yes, I’m here, yes Louis was on time to pick me up,” to which Louis scoffed. He was late  _ one time  _ to pick Liam up to hang out in year eight and he’d never hear the end of it. “No I haven’t given it to him yet, I will. Oh my God, Liam, I will! Okay cool, thanks bro.”

Louis waited until he hung up the phone to ask, “Give me what? You brought me a present?”

“Well, kind of,” Harry grinned sheepishly. “Liam sent you something.”

“Liam is your mate who keeps asking about the tornadoes, yeah?” Niall asked.

“Funny you should say that, Niall,” Harry said, pulling out a pamphlet from his bag and handing it to Louis. “Liam wanted me to give you this so you’d be prepared.”

Louis facepalmed himself, because in his hand was a pamphlet on tornado preparedness. Niall cackled next to him as he looked over Louis’ shoulder at it. “Liam is amazing. We should get him to visit, maybe take him on a trip over the border and down to Kansas.”

“He’d piss himself,” Louis said. 

“I’m hungry,” Niall said. “Who’s down for breakfast?”

"It’s 7pm,” Harry laughed.

“Harry, my friend, the time is irrelevant when it comes to breakfast,” Niall clapped him on the shoulder. “I’m thinking waffles. Make or break moment, Styles, how are your waffle making skills?”

Harry scoffed. “Waffles are just pancakes with abs, and I make a mean pancake. Challenge accepted.”

“Are you flipping my pancakes right now? That’s awesome, pancakes with abs” Niall said, reaching out for a high five which Harry gladly returned. Niall threw an arm around Harry’s shoulders. “Let’s do this. You can unpack later. Food always first.”

“Coming, Lou?” Harry turned and looked at him, a smile on his face.

Louis rolled his eyes, but grinned. It was so, so good to have Harry here, with him again. “Yeah, but can you make me a regular pancake? I’ve been craving it.”

“Unacceptable, Tommo,” Niall scoffed. “It’s go hard or go home here.”

Louis threw the pamphlet at him. Harry laughed.  

\----

Louis met Harry when he was in year eight and he had a combined home economics class with the year sevens. They were partners all term, but it took them about fifteen minutes into the first class to become best friends. It helped that Harry actually knew how to cook when they had to make a basic vegetable soup. All Louis had to contribute to the project was a vote of confidence as he handed Harry a carrot and said, “I’m rooting for you.”

At the time he didn’t realize how grave a mistake it was introducing Harry to puns, he was just blown away by the loud, honking laugh that escaped the curly headed twelve year old. He wanted to spend the rest of term finding ways to make that sound come out and when term ended he extended his goal to the end of the year, and then indefinitely. 

They became inseparable throughout the next several years. His mum, rather rudely he might add, would say they were obsessed with each other. But what does she know?

Just because he had a tiny, miniscule, barely noticeable crush on Harry didn’t mean he was  _ obsessed _ . 

It was probably just a phase, a several year long phase. He had graduated sixth form now and it was bound to go away once he got to Montreal for uni. They’d be an ocean away, there was no way it could last through that. He just had to make it through the summer first.

That was turning out to be no small feat.

There seemed to be a curly ball of energy surgically attached to him at all times, which was fine, great even, but didn’t help the situation. Actually, there was no  _ helping _ the situation because Harry hadn’t gone home in two weeks.

It seemed like someone was throwing a party every night, or they were sneaking Harry into pubs because he wouldn’t be turning eighteen till February, and then at three or four in the morning they would come stumbling home holding each other up. It was almost easier for Harry to stay over. Then the next morning, Louis woke up at seven to work the early shift at Toys ‘R Us before crawling back into the warm spot in the bed that Harry had just gotten out of at two when he got out of work. Rinse and repeat. 

Louis woke up every morning with Harry’s face pressed into the pillow just inches from his shoulder, his face that had gone from squishy and cute to handsome in the few months since he turned seventeen, and Louis was mostly able to ignore it. But one morning in July he woke to Harry’s face buried in his neck, the little puffs of air he let out were giving Louis goosebumps. He slipped out of bed with his heart pounding in his chest, promptly tripped over a discarded shoe and then his desk chair and slamming into his bedroom door as he scrambled to the bathroom. He took a cold shower, but he could still feel Harry  _ right there _ . 

He almost got fired at work because his snotty assistant manager caught him dry heaving behind the dumpster out back. It was a nasty mixture of Harry making him feel unbalanced and the hangover from the night before that had caused his stomach to turn against him. She gave him a glare and a warning before telling him to just go home if he was going to be so useless. 

When he got home his mum yelled at him for throwing up in her rose bushes the night before and even though he was pretty sure it was Harry who did it he didn’t say anything. 

He fell into his bed face first and didn’t move till his room had gone pink with the sunset. Even though he could swear he didn’t fall asleep, he woke with a start when two bodies fell elbows first onto his back. 

“Get up, Lou,” Liam said, digging his elbow in a little further as he tried to sit up. “Stan just called and his parents decided like twenty minutes ago to go to visit his Nan, so he’s having a party.”

“He said bring whatever shit you want,” Harry said, rolling off Louis and settling next to him in the bed. Liam tried to roll to the other side, but fell off the bed entirely. Harry ignored him and kept talking, “I need you to buy me booze, Lou.”

“Shut up,” He said into his pillow. 

Liam popped his head up from the floor. “But you’re the only one working.”

“Shut up,” Louis said again. “And get your own job.”

“Why would we when we’ve got you as a sugar daddy,” Harry said sweetly. Liam snorted from his place on the floor.

“I hate you both. And you’ll be out shit out of luck when I’m in Canada.”

Liam sighed heavily. “I still can’t believe you’re moving to Canada.”

“Whatever, you know my dad was from there. What’s the point of dual citizenship if you never use it?”

“Yeah, but you don’t have to go for four years,” Harry said, turning over to face the ceiling. Louis finally rolled over onto his back. 

“You’ll just have to follow me there next year, Curly,” he said sweetly to Harry, as if he wasn’t entirely serious. Louis looked over to Liam as an afterthought, “You too, Lime.”

“My mum would absolutely die if I went that far from home and you know it,” Liam said with a frown. “Besides, North America has some really crazy, like, weather events and shit.”

“Who says ‘weather events’ like that?” Louis mocked.

Harry chimed in, already giggling at whatever ridiculous joke he was about to make, “Hey Liam! What kind of shorts do clouds wear?”

Liam blinked at him before he finally gave in and said, “What kind?”

Harry started giggling again, “Thunderwear!”

Louis groaned loudly and Liam rolled his eyes. He stood up from the floor and put his hands on his hips.

“Let’s go get a pizza first.”

Harry made a happy sound before he steamrolled right over Louis and landed on the floor with a crash and then popped straight up and out the door. Louis sighed, “I guess that’s a yes then.”

Later, after they had stuffed their faces and Liam and Harry had pointedly paid for the pizza with cash their mums had given them, Louis had bought a bottle of vodka from the liquor store. There were a bunch of people already at Stan’s house when they arrived, mostly congregated in either the kitchen mixing drinks or spread out across the living room. Louis put the bottle of vodka in the kitchen and filled his cup halfway with tequila and sprite. He made a second one for Harry. 

Liam only splashed the tiniest amount of vodka into his coke and gestured to his abdomen as if to say it was his kidney problem, but no one believed he even knew where his kidneys were. 

Louis saw Liam with the same cup when he was filling his and Harry up with another generous pour of tequila. And later, again, when his hand slipped and he spilled tequila all down the cabinet and Harry whispered a prayer for what was lost and finished with, “Tequiling me softly”, Liam was still working on his first drink.

So he should have known better than to leave Louis to his own devices. Or he should have at least known not to leave him to Harry’s own devices. 

They went from obnoxiously dancing on the coffee table in the living room to “Apple Bottom Jeans”  to attempting to reenact the lift from  _ Dirty Dancing _ to practically passed out on the lawn after falling off Stan’s trampoline. 

Harry crawled on his elbows the short distance to Louis and settled down right into his side. Louis blinked slowly, his senses were all fucked from the tequila and the shit day it had been and all of a sudden Harry’s face was  _ right there, _ breathing in his neck for the second time that day. 

“Harry,” He said quietly. “Haz, come on.”

“You’re so warm Lou,” He murmured, snuggling deeper into his side. 

Louis looked up at the sky, the stars were barely visible through all the light pollution, and they were swaying hazily in the night from the tequila. He could hear people shouting and laughing inside Stan’s house. He could feel Harry’s breathing start to even out. 

He nudged his shoulder up to wake Harry. “Wake up babe,” Louis said, not even noticing his word choice. Harry hummed against his collar bone, but didn’t move. “Come on love,” he said softly. 

Harry lifted his head slightly and opened his eyes slowly to look Louis right in the eyes. He could feels Harry’s breaths puff against his lips. Louis swallowed hard. They were just inches apart. He was drunk enough that if he moved even slightly, they would slot together. 

He thought he could see it in Harry’s face that he was thinking the same thing. His eyes had gone soft and his mouth seemed to be coming closer and closer, which didn’t seem at all possible without contact. And yet. 

Louis opened his mouth to say something, he didn’t know what, but  _ something _ had to come out, to be said, but before he could get the words out he heard the back door slam open and a loud “whoops!” that could have been only one person. 

Harry stared up at him with his big green eyes for a moment longer before rolling over slightly so they were side by side. 

Liam stumbled slightly through the dark and Louis wasn’t sure if he was pretending or if that one drink actually messed him up. 

“Why are you out here in the dark?” Liam said as he fell down on the other side of Louis. 

“Fell off the trampoline, didn’t we?” Harry said slowly.

Louis nodded in the dark, but he couldn’t think of anything other the feel of Harry’s breath on his lips. He felt like it was something he would never, ever forget. Even when he was in Canada, even in twenty years, even then, he’d still remember how it felt. He just knew it. 

\----

Louis paddled up to the shore of _Lac Mousseau,_ a few feet from where Harry sat, and carefully got out of his red kayak. It was the hottest day of summer by far and when he’d ventured out of the Harrington Lake Estate with his morning cup of tea he knew he’d wanted to go kayaking. 

He tried to convince Harry to go with him, but Harry had been trying all week to resurrect the vegetable garden started by one of his predecessors and said he was busy. So, Louis had ventured out on his own and had come across a really nice family right before he was about to turn back. He had stayed for twenty minutes chatting and taking photos with them. Therefore he was in a pretty good mood when he made it back to the beach.

Harry was sprawled out in a beach chair with his legs in the water and squinting at his phone in the sun. In his lap were a couple of magazines with slips of paper working as bookmarks. 

“Did you have a nice kayak, Lou?” Harry asked, still looking at his phone.

“I did actually! I ran into this really nice family down that way a bit,” Louis gestured down the lake. 

“I know,” Harry said, looking up from his phone. “I saw it on twitter.” 

Louis sat down in the chair next to Harry. “You don’t use twitter.”

“No,” Harry said with a devious grin. “But you do.”

“No I don’t,” he said darkly.

“It’s very important for the Canadian Prime Minister to have a voice on a social platform, so I run your twitter.”

“No,” Louis said. “Please no.”

Harry smiled and raised and eyebrow at Louis before handing over his phone for Louis to see for himself.  Louis took it with a frown and his frown deepened with what he read on the screen.

The profile picture was a nice one of him on election night and the header was him and a little girl at Pride, but the tweets,  _ oh god the tweets.  _

He read aloud from the screen, “‘I lake a good beach pun. What does the vegetable wear to the beach? A Zuchini!” 

He whimpered. “Harry, this is horrible.” He scrolled down slightly more and read the next one. “A good pun is its own reword.”

He closed his eyes and thought about throwing the phone in the water. He let out a deep breath. “Why?”

“People love it,” Harry said and plucked the phone out of Louis’ hand. “Liam thought it was a great idea.”

“Liam knows?” Louis demanded. “Who else? Niall? Perrie? My  _ mum?  _ Am I the only person who didn't know I had a twitter?”

Harry seemed to think about it. “Yes, Liam knows. Niall and Perrie pin me puns they see on Pinterest, and your mum comments on them every time we talk. So yeah, you're probably the one person who didn't know. But it's a hit, really. Everyone loves it, obviously.”

“Traitors, the lot of you,” Louis frowned deeper, but he knew Harry could see the way the corner of his mouth was twitching to hold back a smile. He rolled his eyes and turned away to briefly let the smile spread across his face. 

When he turned back Harry had picked up one of the magazines in his lap. Louis looked at the one still sitting there and cringed. He picked it up and looked down at his own face on the cover of  _ GQ _ . Louis hadn’t read a single one of the interviews and let Liam handle the whole thing. 

“Why do you insist on reading these?”

“I like to see if you talk about me,” Harry said with a cheeky grin. “So far you have in every one.”

Harry flipped to the bookmarked page in what Louis could now tell was  _ Rolling Stone.  _ Louis winced slightly because he knew what was coming. 

Harry cleared his throat and began reading, “Louis, the interviewer asks, who would you say are your biggest inspirations? Tomlinson answers: My mum for sure, she’s always been the strongest person I know. She raised seven kids and is still the kindest and bravest person I know. Tomlinson pauses and smiles. My best friend, Harry, would also be an inspiration for me. I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for him. I mean that literally of course, he made me chain myself to a tree to start my political career. And here we are twelve years later.”

Louis thought he was done because that was all he remembered saying about Harry, but Harry took a deep breath and kept reading. “Louis is referencing, of course, Harry Styles, 34, Special Advisor, Head of Household, and inventor of those little cardboard sleeves for your coffee. He became a multi-millionaire when he invented what he calls the ‘Java Jacket’ at the age of 22 while working at a Tim Hortons. Styles has been voted Most Stylish Man in Canada for the last five years by  _ Elle Magazine _ and has famous friends in Ed Sheeran and James Corden. Rumor has it he’s going to start a music career. We posed this question to Tomlinson and he laughed, so we will see!”

Harry finished with a laugh. “They love me!”

“Who even approved that?” Louis said with disgust. “There was more about you than me!”

“Well, Lou, we know now which one of us is more interesting,” Harry was still laughing. “I need to send this to my mum, she’ll want to frame it.”

“Ugh,” Louis said. “I hate you.” But Harry couldn’t hear him over his laughter. 

\----

Louis was still half asleep as his motorcade stopped outside the PMO. He'd gotten the call at 3:00am, and well, Harry had made them stay up late watching  _ Grease _ after he’d found an ice cream parlour that sold  _ Hopelessly devoted to cashew  _ gelato.  _ Grease  _ was Louis’ favorite movie, and so he hadn't minded much -- then. Now, he had already slapped Harry twice on the back of his head since they'd left the cottage.

“Prime Minister,” Larry, his door security man greeted, opening the door for them. “Mr. Styles.”

“Harry, please, Larry, we've been over this,” Harry clapped him on the shoulder. “Multiple times, actually.”

“Right, of course, Harry, sir,” the doorman responded.

Louis and Harry made their way through the building, greeting multiple people as they went. This was the first time he'd had to be called in after hours because of a crisis, and he wasn't really sure what to expect, but he wasn't really surprised to see Liam completely panicked. 

Liam was on him the moment Louis entered his office. “I sent in the national guard to help with evacuations.”

Louis nodded. “Good, that’s good. That’ll help.”

Harry, who somehow wasn’t in the same sleepy haze as him, seemed to realize the implications before him. “Doesn’t Louis need to sign off on that?”

Liam coughed awkwardly. “Yes, well, um, you see what happened was--.”

Louis got it then. “You forged my signature, didn’t you?”

“Er, yes,” Liam said.

Louis would never let him live this down, especially with the ashamed look Liam had on his face. He would make fun of Liam on his deathbed for breaking a rule like that. But now was not the time. He’d laugh at him after the crisis was over. “Okay, good, so have they arrived in the affected area?”

Liam nodded. “They are helping with evacuation now, and the Red Cross is helping set up resources and shelters. We’re getting half hourly updates.”

“Great job,” Louis nodded as he sat down in his chair. “Okay, so what do we know?”

“Well, the Richter scale puts it at a 6.3,” Jeff, his Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness, started. “There have been a few aftershocks and the meteorologists are predicting a few more. That’s going to be the tricky part, getting people evacuated with the aftershocks in effect.”

Liam whimpered softly next to him, and Louis saw Harry pat Liam’s shoulder comfortingly from the corner of his eye. “Any deaths?” Louis asked.

“Too soon to say, but so far we don’t have any reported deaths,” Jeff said.

“Okay thanks, Jeff,” Louis said. “Issue a state of emergency in the areas affected, and let’s get more resources moving to be ready to help. Keep me updated.”

Jeff nodded and left the room to work. 

Louis sighed and rubbed his eyes. “For fuck’s sake, a major earthquake. What the fuck, Mother Earth.”

“You did well, Lou,” Harry said softly. “Buildings can be rebuilt, but you’re helping the people.”

“I told you something like this would happen,” Liam said. It seemed he was finally unable to hold it in anymore. “I told you to take Jeff seriously. But does anyone listen to me? No, Liam is just being hysterical again, and just blubbering on about natural disasters and dying, why should we listen to him? I  _ told you  _ we need to be prepared.”

“For a tornado, Liam,” Louis rolled his eyes. “An earthquake is not a tornado. And all your tornado pamphlets don’t really help right now.”

“It’s still a natural disaster,” Liam handed him a small binder. “Also, I took the liberty of compiling this for you after you were called in.”

Louis rolled his eyes as he flipped through the binder. Liam had prepared an earthquake awareness binder. Louis had not gotten enough sleep for this right now. 

\----

Louis had celebrated his first year in office when it happened. They had just come back from a few weeks in Asia meeting with several different foreign leaders. He finished brushing his teeth and went down to the kitchen to get a glass of water when he saw the bags by the door. He recognized Harry’s leather shoulder bag sitting amongst them and it stopped him short. He looked into the living room, but Harry wasn’t in there to give any sort of explanation. 

He slowly walked to the kitchen, looking over his shoulder at the bags as he went. Harry hadn’t mentioned going on a trip, so he wasn’t sure what they meant. He walked to the fridge on autopilot and pulled out a bottle of water. When he turned around he saw Harry sitting on a stool at the kitchen island. He jumped slightly and let out a small shriek. 

“You scared me, H.” Louis said with a small laugh, his hand still slightly clutching his chest. He expected Harry to laugh with him, or at him, but he did neither. He continued to sit at the counter looking down at his hands. 

Louis waited a moment for him to speak, but he didn’t, so Louis did. “Are you going on a trip?

He took a sip of his water and waited for Harry to reply, but again he didn’t. He just shook his head slightly. Louis wanted to go over and sit next to him, but something inside told him to give Harry some space. So, he stayed rooted in place by the fridge. 

“Is everything okay, H?” Louis asked tentatively. 

“I’m going to London.” 

“Oh,” Louis said. “When do you think you’ll be back? We have that event at the end of the month at the Children’s Hospital that you worked on.” 

“I’m going to stay with Ed,” Harry said slowly, cautiously. “Until I can find my own place.”

“Your own place?” Louis said a little dumbfounded. “In London?”

“Yeah,” Harry swallowed hard. “Last time Ed came to visit he said we could really do something with the music we were working on. I’ve been thinking about it for awhile and then I just thought, what’s stopping me?”

He looked up at Louis then, holding his gaze. Louis was at a loss for words. What was stopping him? The selfish part of Louis wanted to scream, me! But was that fair?

Louis swallowed hard and took a sip of water before speaking. “You’re absolutely right. You’re so talented, Harry. If music is what you want to do, you should do it.”

“Right,” Harry winced slightly. “Lou, do you ever think…” He paused. Harry shook his head and rubbed at his temples with his left hand.

“Do I ever think what?”

Harry bit his lip before continuing, “Do you ever want this to be anything else?”

“What do you mean?”

“Us,” Harry sighed, waving a hand between them. “Do you ever think about us?”

“Haz, I don’t know what you mean,” Louis said almost pleadingly. “We’re best friends, aren’t we? We’ve always been best mates, you and me.”

“I can’t do this anymore.You’re my best friend, Louis, you always have been since the day we met,” Harry was starting to get worked up, pacing back and forth by the island. “But I love you. And I don’t mean as a best friend. I think I’ve been in love with you since I was twelve and you had too much gel in your hair and drew dicks on every surface imaginable and held me when I cried that my mum was divorcing my stepdad. It’s been over twenty years, Lou, and I don’t think I can do it anymore.”

Louis mouth dropped opened and he started forming several different words at once so all that came out was, “Uh.”

Harry turned away from him and Louis could see how tense he was in his shoulders. “I thought that’s what this was always leading to, you know? I thought we were both just being too scared and too hesitant. I told myself maybe you weren’t ready, but one day I’d have the courage to just say it and everything would be perfect. But this isn’t me having courage right now and this isn’t perfect, and honestly, I can’t keep waiting for you to feel the same way about me. I’m in my mid-thirties and I’ve been following you around the world since I was eighteen. I loved every minute of it, Louis, I did, but this just isn’t enough for me anymore. I keep feeling like my life hasn’t even started yet. I can’t keep waiting, hoping you’ll love me too.”

Louis’ mouth was still struggling to form words, his mind racing a million miles a minute, but he got out, “Harry…” in a broken voice. He didn’t know what to say. He was his best friend, his partner in crime, he was everything. But could Louis tell him right here and right now that he felt the same? He didn’t know. He knew that’s what Harry needed to hear, that Louis loved him too. But Louis just couldn’t. 

“That’s what I thought,” Harry turned back towards him and started nodding slowly, with a small frown on his lips. “I booked a flight out tonight.” 

A small noise of protest escaped Louis’ throat. “Tonight?”

“Yeah, the car should be here any minute.” Harry’s voice had gone monotone like he had nothing left to give. 

“I could -” Louis stuttered. “I can take you to the airport.” He needed more time. Just even the length of the car ride to work this out. He needed to think, but he didn’t want Harry to leave before he had the chance to.

“No need,” Harry stood up. Headlights were coming down the drive and flashing through the kitchen window.

“When, uh, when do you think you’ll be back?” Louis said softly, looking down at the bottle of water and trying not to cry. 

“We can meet up at Christmas, yeah? When you come home.” Harry said, turning away from him, his shoulders impossibly tense. He answered the door before the knock came from the driver. Harry showed him his bags and helped carry one to the car and Louis watched all of it from the kitchen, unmoving. 

Harry couldn’t just  _ leave _ . This was his  _ home.  _ Louis was his home. 

Harry walked back in slowly, all his bags already in the car and stood in the entryway to the kitchen. “Well, I guess this is it.”

Louis crossed the kitchen in three large strides and then wrapped his arms tightly around Harry’s middle. It didn’t matter what Harry had just said or what Louis felt, Harry was his best friend in the entire world and they hadn’t spent more than a week apart since they were eighteen and Louis wasn’t entirely sure how to feel about it, except devastated. Harry’s arms were warm around him for another minute before he let go and Louis stepped back. He thought he could see wetness in Harry’s eyes, but the lights were so dim he couldn’t tell. 

“I’ll call you when I land,” he said before stepping out into the night. 

Louis stood with the front door open and watched the car pull out of the drive and the headlights disappear. He waited until he had closed the door behind him and he was in the safety of his house that the panic attack started. 

Louis couldn’t breathe. Harry  _ loved  _ him. How hadn’t he realized? All these years, he just, they were best friends. When he was younger he used to think about it sometimes and wonder if Harry thought about it too, but each year nothing happened he seemed to think about it less and less until he forgot he even thought it in the first place. Through it all they had always been best friends, and Louis had been sure they’d always be best friends. When he viewed his life 20, 30, 50 years from now, Harry was always by his side. But now he wasn’t. Harry had left him. Louis couldn’t move, just standing with his back pressed against the door frame, staring at the emptiness. His chest felt like it was collapsing as he struggled to catch his breath. His heart felt like it was going to explode, and Louis found he just didn’t care. Because Harry had left him.

It took him another thirty minutes for the realization to hit. The force of it had him sliding down the door until he was sitting pressed against it, his head in his hands. This was heartbreak, not the kind you felt because your best friend left, but the heart wrenching, life ending, misery filled heartbreak that only came with love. Louis loved Harry too. God, all these years, all this time, he’d loved him. And he’d just let him leave. He hadn’t said a goddamn word. What had he done? 

He waited up all night and all the next day, but Harry didn’t call. 

\----

Louis had exactly 54 days before he turned 30, he’d counted. That was why he was absolutely not wearing the costume Harry had gotten him. He refused. Instead he had made his own, with the minimal effort all soon to be 30 year olds operated with in their impending mortality. Okay, so he was being a tad bit dramatic. He was still not wearing the costume. Instead, he had taken one of Harry’s white shirts and written “Go Ceiling!” on it, and stopped at the store to buy some Pom-poms. He was rather proud of his “ceiling fan” costume.

He walked into Niall’s flat with the party in full swing, just a tad bit late. Harry had gone off earlier to help Niall set up, but Louis had some work to finish with the City Council and then a quick meeting of the minds with other members of the Liberal Party. Namely, deciding how they were going to bring the party out of the depths of losing hell. He’d also wanted to come without Harry so he could opt out of wearing that costume, but no one had to know that. 

“No!” Harry exclaimed as soon as he saw him, his eyes wide as he took in Louis’ costume. Harry himself was dressed as Taco Belle, wearing a yellow dress with tacos all over it. “You didn’t wear it!”

“Harold, I am almost 30,” Louis said, trying to sound firm and confident. In truth, he was slightly scared that Harry would make him go home and change into his own blue dress and come back as Cinderbella. “I think this is more fitting to someone of my age.” 

“You mean 80?” Niall chortled in his cowboy costume. 

Liam, who was visiting for the weekend and dressed as Ironman, glared at his new friend. “Don’t be rude. He’s not 80, he’s not that much older than us. Who knows how we’ll be then.”

“Wow, thanks for the loyalty there, Liam,” Louis rolled his eyes, throwing one of his Pom-poms at Liam. 

Harry was just staring at Louis, trying to look disappointed but unable to as his lips quirked. Louis had been careful to make his costume something Harry would enjoy, mainly so he wouldn’t have to go home and change. “Those Pom-Pom’s are very telling of your old age,” Harry said.

“Your grandkids give them to you?” Niall added

“No, it was your mum,” Louis retorted to which Niall threw an arm around his shoulder, letting out a barking laugh. 

“Come on, old man, let’s get you a drink before your bedtime,” he said. “Now, rule #1 at Niall’s Spooktacular Palooza, well the only rule really, no one leaves sober. So let’s get you shit faced.”

Which is exactly what he did. He took four consecutive shots of Captain Morgan with Niall and Harry and then Niall poured him a drink that was so strong his arms broke out in goosebumps. Really, he had no option other than to down it in two big gulps. After that he drank at a more leisurely pace, but he still found himself giggly and handsy with Harry a couple hours later. 

He thought fleetingly that he hadn’t been this drunk since uni, but he was mostly lying on top of Harry on Niall’s couch and working on other princess pun costume ideas so he didn’t care all that much. 

He had just tossed out the idea of Punkahontas when Harry let out a wistful sigh from where he was squished below him. Louis poked a finger in the spot where Harry’s dimple should have been because he should have been laughing. “What’s got you down, Taco?”

“Are you gonna make me a princess, Lou?”

Louis barked out a laugh and dug his finger in Harry’s cheek a little harder when Harry pouted up at him. “You already are one, love.”

Harry scoffed and then continued, “When you become Prime Minister, are you going to make me your first lady?”

“Since when am I becoming Prime Minister?” Louis said still laughing. “That’s a big jump from where I’m at now, H.”

Harry ignored that all together and kept going, “At your coronation I think we should play Prosecco Pong. It looks like so much fun.”

Louis was giggling so hard he almost rolled off the couch and had to clutch at Harry’s hip to stay on. “Yeah, I don’t think that’s how they do it here, babe.”

“But Louuuuu,” Harry whined. “I’d look so cute in a tiara.”

Harry was looking up at him with his big green eyes all glassy from the alcohol and Louis couldn’t look any longer so he ducked his head down in Harry’s neck. “There’s no denying it, darling.”

“Are you going to win me a country, Lou?” Harry said with a giggle of his own. 

“I’ll do my best.”

\----

Louis did not hear a word Liam said. He was pretty sure it was something to do with his upcoming events, and he should have probably cared, since he was Prime Minister and all, but he just didn't. All of his attention was focused on the small frame on his desk, a frame he'd dug out from the back of his top right desk drawer. He'd hidden it there the day they first moved into the PMO. Not even Harry had known he'd put it there, because he'd waited until Harry had gone to the loo to fish it out of his bag. There wasn't even any real reason to hide it, but he'd felt he'd had to. He'd always felt he had to hide it from the moment he had it framed back in graduate school, the little frame with the little sticky note he'd found that said “your first step to world peace!” 

It hadn't been Harry’s worst pun, but it had made Louis want to slap him as per usual. Yet, as soon as he'd just glared at Harry when the latter finally came down to make them breakfast, he'd slipped the note into his pocket and gone off after his last class of the day to buy a frame for it. He hadn’t known why, even then, but he knew he just had to. 

Next to the frame on his desk was a copy of today’s  _ Hello! Canada.  _ The front page article was titled “Where in the World is Harry Styles?” The picture they’d used of Harry looked fairly recent, but they had photoshopped the Carmen Sandiego hat on his head. Louis had cringed when he first saw it, but now it just made him sad. 

“So I told her I’d do it, but only if I could dye my hair blue,” Liam said.

That snapped his out of his thoughts, his head turning towards Liam. Niall was snickering in the background. “What?”

Liam sighed in exasperation. “You haven't heard a word I've said, have you?”

“If I say no, are you going to hit me?”

“Debating,” Liam said, shrugging his shoulders. 

Louis sighed and tossed the magazine at Liam. He didn’t know if Liam had already seen it, so he watched with interest as Liam scanned the cover. Then he sat patiently while Liam flipped to where the story sat on Page 3. 

Liam read silently for a moment and then started to read it aloud, “Here at  _ Hello!  _  We have started to wonder, where in the world is Harry Styles? He’s been missing from his permanent position, practically glued to the Prime Minister, Louis Tomlinson’s, side, for several weeks now. As many of our loyal readers know, we’ve been running this story weekly, but fear no longer! Sources from inside the PMO have indicated that Styles has resigned as Special Advisor and Head of Household. We had been speculating that Styles had even left the country, abandoning Canada all together. 

No need to fret, fellow Canadians, Mr. Styles has been found. Where in the world indeed, it looks like he has returned to London, and maybe permanently if the photos of him and Radio 1 Breakfast Host Nick Grimshaw house hunting means anything.”

Niall scoffed. “What a load of bullshit.”

“I mean, there’s pictures, Niall,” Louis said with a frown. When he looked at Liam he saw he was frowning as well.

Niall snatched the paper out of Liam’s hands and tore through it quickly and then chucked it in the trash. “He looks miserable, don’t pay this shit any mind.”

Liam picked up Louis’s phone, holding it out to him. “Call him.”

Of course Liam knew where his thoughts were. He wouldn't be a good chief of staff or best friend if he didn't. “I can't just call him, Liam. Besides, I have things to do.”

“What things?” Niall asked.

“Things on Liam’s list,” Louis tried.

Niall laughed. “Name one thing on that list.”

“Easy,” Louis glared at him. “The first one is punch Niall in the face.”

“Don't be mad at me because your boyfriend left you,” Niall rolled his eyes. 

“He's not my boyfriend,” Louis sucked in a breath. His heart started to pound. 

“Really?” Niall grinned. “You've been living together since uni, you do  _ everything  _ together, you even eat breakfast and dinner together everyday. You hang on each other’s words. You wear his t-shirt to bed. You have your own secret language. And don't even get me started on the googly eyes.”

Louis tried to refrain from wincing. It was true, everything he said. And Louis felt like such an idiot for never realizing before. It had never really hit Louis how different his relationship with Harry was. “That's how best friends act.” Even as he said it, he knew it was a lie. 

“No, best friends grab a few beers and hang. That’s how  _ lovers _ act,” Niall pointed out. 

“We’re not - it’s not like that,” Louis leaned down to put his forehead on his desk. Because he'd missed his chance. He had been so stupid, hadn’t realized. Now, Harry was gone.

“You were always extremely codependent, Lou,” Liam admitted, shooting him an apologetic look as if he knew how much of an idiot Louis was feeling like, almost as if always he knew Louis was in love with Harry. “We've always thought you'd end up together, eventually.” His tone was quieter then.

“Yeah, once you pulled your heads out of your arses,” Niall added unhelpfully.

“Well, it's too late for that. It doesn't matter now,” Louis insisted. “He's gone.”

“So bring him back,” Niall said, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. Louis wanted to punch him. “He probably wants to come back as much as you want him to.”

“How am I supposed to do that?” Louis rolled his eyes, lifting his head up to glare at him again. He knew Niall was right. He had to bring Harry back. He wasn't the same without him. Louis needed him here, with him. He only hoped Niall was right about Harry wanting to come back too.

Liam edged his phone towards him again. “Call him.”

“Well that's a stupid idea,” Louis said. “I can't just call him. I have to give him a reason.”

“Maybe because you love him?” Niall prompted. 

Louis glared at him. Why wasn't he giving him  _ real  _ suggestions? “I can't just tell him that, especially not on the phone. I have to get him here first.” 

Liam looked a little worried. 

“Oh I know,” Louis said. Liam looked a lot worried now. “Here's the plan! We injure Niall, and then Liam calls him and tells him Niall is in the hospital. He'd have to come back to see you! Then I can tell him, and keep him here. Hmm, but what can we do that would be serious enough that he'd have to visit Niall in the hospital? Any chance you can contract a deadly virus, mate?”

Niall snorted. “My deadly virus is having a git like you as a best friend. We're not injuring me. Injure Liam.”

“Hey! I don't want to be the one injured,” Liam snapped, but then shook his head, looking like he was frustrated he'd been even dragged into this life. “No one is getting injured. Call him.”

“You ruin all my best plans, Liam,” Louis sighed.

“That's not your best plan,” Liam rolled his eyes. “It's a horrible plan!”

“Oh, maybe I can set off a tornado somewhere,” Louis said, smiling conspiratorially. “And put you in it, then Niall can call Harry to come save you.”

Niall laughed at that one, but Liam looked appalled. “Tornadoes are not a joking matter.”

“I wasn't joking,” Louis said. “Okay, next idea.”

“Here's one,” Liam held his phone out again, almost touching Louis’s face this time. “Call him.”

Louis swatted the phone out of his face. “Okay, what if I charged him with treason? And then have the U.K. extradite him back to Canada. We still have the extradition treaty with the UK, right? Brexit didn't ruin that?”

“Nope, we still have the treaty,” Niall said, a grin on his face. 

“Don't encourage him,” Liam sighed in frustration at Niall. “Louis, you cannot charge Harry with treason.”

“Okay, maybe not treason. Maybe -- oh, what about murder, that's in the extradition treaty too, right?”

“Who'd Harry murder?” Niall asked, intrigued. Liam looked like  _ he  _ was going to punch Niall. 

“Maybe some government official,” Louis said. “Maybe the chief of staff. Mind going on vacation for a few days, Liam?”

“You are  _ not  _ going to charge Harry with murder,” Liam looked affronted. “You are not going to charge him with anything. You are going to take this phone and call him.”

Louis ignored him. “Oh, maybe I can charge him with solicitation!”

“You are not accusing Harry of being a prostitute!” Liam yelled. “God, I don't need a vacation, I need a new job. Preferably somewhere far, far away from here.” 

“Solicitation is not in the treaty anyway. I'm sure you'll think of something,” Niall said, again unhelpfully. Liam stormed out.

Well, he'd have to because apparently charging him with anything was clearly going to give Liam an aneurysm. 

\---

In the end, Louis hadn’t charged Harry with treason, murder or prostitution. And he hadn’t pulled off a god-like phenomena in starting a tornado. He had tried to injure Liam again, but Liam refused to go alone with it. And so, Louis had done the next logical thing. He had called the Queen of England. And that was how Louis ended up in the U.K.

Liam had looked just about done when Louis told him he was going to visit the Queen, and Niall had laughed and asked if Harry was a queen now. Louis had thrown a pen at him. He wasn’t even really sure what he was doing. He just knew, well he thought he’d know what to do if he could just see Harry again, and since Liam said he wasn’t allowed to do anything extreme to bring Harry to him, he did the next best thing. He made up a fake official stately visit to bring himself to Harry. 

“Sir, we’re here,” his driver said.

“Thanks, Olly,” Louis said and sighed, rubbing his face. Fuck, he really should have come up with a plan, or at least an idea of what he wanted to say. He just -- he didn’t know what he could say to make all this better, to stop the dead feeling he’d had inside his chest since Harry left. Now, he was sat in his car outside Ed Sheeran’s house, where Harry was crashing, having absolutely no words prepared. His hands had been shaking the whole flight over and they hadn’t stopped since landing. He groaned. “What am I even doing here?”

“Getting your boy, sir,” Olly said. “And on behalf of your entire staff, I have to say, it’s about damn time.”

He just stared at the back of his driver’s head. “Have you all been secretly discussing my relationship? Behind my back?”

“Of course, sir,” Olly shrugged. 

“Then, tell me please, what do I say? How do I get him back? How do I do this?” he knew he was begging, and he didn’t even care.

Olly was quiet for a moment. “I can’t imagine Mr. Styles won’t be moved by the truth, sir.”

“And what is the truth?” he asked.

“I can’t tell you that, sir,” Olly shrugged. “Only you can know how you feel. I will say though, you flew across the Atlantic and set up a fake state visit--.”

“It’s a real state visit, I’m actually going to see the Queen,” Louis scoffed. 

“Right, right, so you came on this very real, not out of the blue, no reason at all state visit, to talk to him, to see him. That could tell you something,” Olly shrugged.

“You are absolutely no help, Olly,” Louis groaned and then stepped out of the car with a whimper. The street was pretty much empty, probably due to the late hour and the chilly December air. 

He knew Olly was right though. He had done that. Who was he kidding? This was a totally fake state visit. Hell, he had no idea what he was going to say to the Queen when he saw her either, because there was literally no reason for the visit. He’d come here for one reason, and one reason only. He had to get Harry back. He had no doubts anymore, he was finally letting himself feel everything he had been hiding for years. Because Louis was in love with him. He knew that. He knew exactly how he felt. He’d already figured that out. He just didn’t know how to say that, to eloquently express what he was feeling and to apologize for letting it go this far. He didn’t know how to make Harry want to come back. 

He needed to psych himself up. For fuck’s safe, what was he doing? This was just talking to Harry, just Harry. His best friend, who he was able to talk to no matter what, whenever. Harry, who knew him better than anyone. He could do this, sure, he didn’t know what to say, but he’d figure it out, damn it! He just had to do it. He could do this. He just had to see him. 

With that final resolve, he walked up to Ed’s door and rang the bell. Ed answered the door after a few beats of his thumping heart. 

“Louis,” Ed said in surprise before his face broke out in a sad smile. “How are ya, mate?”

“I’m doing alright, Ed,” he said. “Is Harry in?”

“Uh, yeah, he’s just in the shower but he should be out in a bit,” Ed said. He moved aside to let him in.

“Thanks,” Louis said as he stepped in. “I’ll just wait for him, if that’s alright?”

Louis didn’t want to impose on Ed. They had never really been close, he was always Harry’s friend more than Louis’, but he wasn’t leaving without talking to Harry. 

Ed paused. “Listen, Louis, this whole thing is shit for both of you, I just want to be sure you’re not here to hurt him again. You aren’t, are you?” Ed rubbed a hand on the back of his neck and smiled sheepishly,  “I mean don’t get me wrong, the pain has helped us write some kick ass songs, but I love you both, and well, I’d prefer my friends not going through this shit.”

“I’m not here to hurt him,” Louis said confidently. “We just have to talk about it together.”

Ed nodded at him and Louis gave him a small smile. 

“Then come on, I’ll take you to his room,” Ed said. “And if I may, Mr. Prime Minister,  it’s about damn time, mate.”

“I know,” Louis said quietly. He followed Ed upstairs quietly, preparing himself for Harry. This was it.

Ed let him into the guest room Harry was staying in and left him alone. Louis sighed as he looked around and he sat down on the edge of Harry’s bed to wait. It was so Harry already, so meticulously clean and yet cluttered at the same time. Harry would say it was an organized mess. He knew where everything was, even if no one else could find anything under the magazines and papers on the desk and clothes on the chair. 

He checked his phone while he waited. He ignored three emails from Liam about proper etiquette while meeting the Queen. He’d already been through that, hell there had been whole classes before he met with her the first time. They were practically old friends now. He responded to Niall’s text about a supposed missing secret crisp stash in the office with an eye roll emoji, and to Liam’s text about not telling Harry he was charged with prostitution or treason with a ‘too late’ just to freak Liam out.

He had just read Liam’s frantic response when the door opened. Louis stood as Harry walked in, wearing nothing but a towel around his waist, his hair still wet from his shower. Harry froze when he saw Louis standing there, and well, so did Louis.

He had thought he’d know what to say when he saw Harry, when they were face to face, and he could look him in the eye and know exactly how to tell him how much he loved him. But all words left Louis now, and all he could choke out now was,  “Hi.”

“Hi,” Harry said, hesitantly stepping in and closing the door behind him. “What are you doing here, Lou?”

“I’m um, I’m here on official state business,” he said awkwardly. “Meeting with the Queen and all.”

“I see,” Harry said slowly. “Is the Queen popping over to Ed’s too?”

“Well, she is a fan of his music, or so I hear,” Louis said, hoping to break Harry out of this hard exterior he’d taken on. He didn’t know how to do this with hard Harry. He needed his Harry, he best friend, his loving and dorky and incredible other half.

Harry didn’t respond.

Louis sighed. “How’ve you been?” he asked.

“Busy,” Harry said. “You?”

“Same,” Louis rubbed his arm awkwardly. “Someone broke into Niall’s not so secret crisp stash, so he’s upset about that.”

Harry’s lip twitched. They’d broken into that stash themselves quite a few times. It was the worst kept secret in the office.

“Liam wants to find a new job, but then that’s not a new thing,” Louis continued. “Somewhere without tornadoes.”

“Like Liam would ever leave you,” Harry said. “He’d be too worried you’d get blown away in a tornado.”

“I didn’t think you’d ever leave me either,” Louis muttered and then caught himself. He bit his lip sheepishly and let out a, “Sorry, sorry.”

“Why are you here, Lou?” Harry turned away from him and started rummaging through his suitcase on the floor. Louis felt a sick sense of satisfaction that Harry hadn’t even bothered to unpack. When Harry turned back around with a handful of clothes Louis could finally say what he needed to. 

“I -- I needed to see you,” Louis admitted.

“Why?” Harry pulled his pants up under his towel and then dropped it to the ground and pulled on his t-shirt. Louis felt a rush at the sight of his bare torso that he hadn’t felt in a long time. Harry was so ridiculously attractive and despite largely avoiding how that made him feel for the last twenty or so years, it was crazy to Louis that now it wasn’t something he had to ignore. It made him feel even more sure of what he was here to do. 

“Because I missed you, for fuck’s sake, Haz,” Louis said in frustration and then caught himself. “This is the longest we’ve gone without talking since your parents took you and Gemma on vacation to France before starting secondary. That was only a week and it was hell. We’re best friends, and you just -- disappeared.”

Harry winced. “It was easier this way.”

“Really? Easier for whom?” Louis crossed his arms. Louis said bluntly, “Because I’m fucking miserable. This is the hardest shit I’ve ever had to do, to go through. Harry, I take one look at you and I can see how much it sucks for you too.”

“Well, of course it does, Lou,” Harry sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “I put my heart out there for you. I thought you felt the same, I thought all these years--.” He shook his head. “But you didn’t, and you don’t, and it’s fine... I can’t make you love me too, but I needed a clean break from it. Because it fucking kills me, okay? Is that what you want to hear? Knowing I love you but you don’t, and seeing you, I don’t know, Lou, it’s hard, okay?”

“I do,” Louis said, his voice barely above a whisper. 

“What?” Harry said, his face in shock.

“I do love you, I’m in love with you,” Louis said, forcing himself to speak louder. Harry completely froze, just staring at him with wide eyes, not moving a muscle. “Fuck, Haz, I love you so much, and I’m so, so sorry. I was such an idiot and so fucking blind, and I just -- when you left, it killed me. I literally felt hollow, and I just -- I don’t know, you’ve just always been there, and I guess I needed to lose you to realize.” He knew he was rambling but he didn’t care. Now that it was pouring out, he couldn’t stop it. “Jesus, Harry. It’s always been you, and I was so stupid for letting you walk out, for not realizing before. And I just -- I love you, okay? And I know I don’t deserve a second chance, but God help me, I need it. I need you. I’ve always needed you, and I was so fucking stupid.”

Harry didn’t move. He opened his mouth once and then closed it, his eyes never leaving Louis’ face, as if analyzing him, and his words. 

Maybe it wasn’t enough, maybe it was too late. Louis was losing confidence fast. “Okay, I know, I was dumb, and I hurt you, and okay, I get --.”

Harry took two large steps across the room and reached an arm around Louis’ waist and another around his neck, and Louis’ words stuttered out because Harry leaned in and connected their lips, and God, if it wasn’t the best feeling Louis had ever had. He sighed into the kiss as Harry pulled him closer against his body, his arm tightening around him. Louis reached up to wrap his own hands around Harry’s neck, his finger tangling into Harry’s hair. Harry’s thumb traced gently along Louis’ jawline as he held him steady, and Louis’ knees buckled. It felt so right, kissing Harry like this, like they should have been kissing all along. 

Finally, Harry pulled back, both of them breathing roughly, trying to catch their breath. Harry pressed his forehead against Louis’, a wide grin on his face. “I love you too, Lou. So, so much.”

Louis’ grin matched Harry’s then. “Will you come home with me, H? Maybe we can try this whole being together thing?”

Harry tipped his chin down and pressed his lips against Louis’ again, so softly, so calm, his thumb brushing across Louis’ cheek. Louis’ heart was pounding in his chest and aching in the best way. When Harry pulled back he wrapped his arms around Louis and pulled him into his chest. His head was curved down so his mouth was next to Louis’ ear and he said “I’d like that Lou, to be together. It’s all I’ve wanted for so long.”

“Me too,” Louis said into Harry’s chest. “When you told me how you felt it was like everything clicked into place. The minute your taxi was gone from the drive I desperately needed you to come back because I couldn’t let it end like that. I just, I felt like nothing I had to say was enough.”

Harry leaned back slightly to look Louis in the eyes. “This is enough, Lou. This is all I ever wanted.”

Louis leaned up and kissed his lips, his cheek, his chin, the spot where his jaw became his neck. “I love you so much.”

Harry smiled, his eyelids fluttering slightly. He pulled Louis back in for another hug and whispered into his hair, “I think I’m going to get goosebumps every time you say that.”

Louis let out a small laugh and he could hear Harry chuckle with him. 

When they finally pulled back from each other, neither of them could fight the grins on their faces. Louis didn’t think he had ever felt this happy, his chest was soaring and his hands were still shaking, but in the best way. 

“If you meant it,” Louis said, with very little doubt, “Olly is still outside ready to take us home. Besides, I’m not the only one that missed you. Canada was absolutely distraught by your absence.”

Harry laughed. “I mean it, of course I do. I think England is overrated anyway, I forgot how much the cloudy weather here is such a Debbie Downer.”

Louis just looked at him. “You can’t Debbie Downer clouds.”

“I can Debbie Downer anything I want, and you will love it,” Harry scoffed. “Because you love me.”

Louis smiled, finally feeling whole again. The tightness he’d been feeling in his chest since Harry left, the dread, the dark cloud looming over him, they were all gone, and Louis was whole and happy again. “I do, I truly and genuinely do.”

Harry grinned as he finally moved away. “I should probably finish getting dressed so I can tell Ed I’m heading back home.” The smile on Harry’s face grew wider, “It feels so good to say that.”

“Yeah, then we can go meet the Queen and then head home,” Louis said. Home. It felt so right saying that. Louis and Harry had both been born and raised in the U.K., but somehow Canada had become home for them, but even more than that, Louis knew he felt as content as he did because Harry was coming back, and well, Harry was home to him.

Harry froze looking at his suitcase and turned around to face Louis again. “You were serious about that?”

“That I was here to see the Queen on official stately business?” Louis asked. “Completely serious.”

Harry crossed his arms, a smirk on his face. “What official stately business?”

Fuck, in all his nervousness about seeing Harry, he’d forgotten he didn’t really have a reason to be here. “Well, I um - it’s, you know - um, okay so I made it up, but I did call her and say I was coming, so it wouldn’t look like I was using taxpayer dollars to fly across the Atlantic to win back my boyfriend. So I’m going to need you to help me think of what to say to her, because really, I have no idea.” Harry had broken into a wide grin, almost radiating joy. Louis looked at him oddly. “What?”

“Boyfriend,” Harry said.

“Yeah, well, that’s what you are now. Boyfriend, best friend, what else is there?” Louis tried to play it off cool, like it didn’t make it just as giddy to say it. “Now get dressed, love. We have a popstar to let down.”

Harry laughed and turned back to his suitcase, picking out his clothes, and Louis sat back on his bed, leaning back on his hands, just watching him, a smile on his face. 

How could he have ever been so stupid to let this walk out of his life? He had no idea, but he knew he was going to blame Liam for it.

\---

Louis woke up with a smile on his face on New Year’s Day. His back hurt from the hardwood floor he fell asleep on and his head was pounding through a hangover, but their first uni party was a success and his nose was buried in Harry’s hair so he had never been happier. Harry made a small noise in his sleep and Louis squeezed his arm a little tighter around his waist and wished the nausea away. He just wanted to stay here a little bit longer. 

They had partied a little too hard the night before, but it was New Year’s and it was their first time throwing a party in their apartment. They’d only come back from England the day before and last minute invited literally every single person they had ever met who was still in Montreal. It was more people than they expected, but everybody brought some sort of alcohol and he just knew that the apartment was going to be a wreck. 

He lay there holding Harry, his body keeping Louis warm in the cool apartment, for nearly an hour. January was unforgiving in Montreal and when they passed out the night before neither of them had the foresight to grab a blanket. But he was unwilling to move. He took deep breaths to keep his stomach from turning over. Since Harry had come to Canada that fall they had grown closer than they had been in secondary school. Niall liked to joke that it was nice they had a third bedroom for guests because Louis always slept in Harry’s room. But it wasn’t his fault that his room was always a tip. 

Louis couldn’t help feeling like they were on the verge of something and whatever that something was, he was totally on board. 

But not now, because he lurched forward with a dry heave before scrambling up off the floor, his socks slipping on the hardwood, as he hustled to the bathroom. There was someone passed out in the bathtub while he threw up a whole bottle of gin. 

When it finally stopped, he looked up to Harry in the doorway, looking disheveled and sleepy and  _ something _ , but holding out a glass of water and some aspirin. Louis took it gratefully and then brushed his teeth. 

When he walked out of the bathroom he stood in the living room with Harry and surveyed the damage. There were bottles and cans everywhere. The whole place looked stained. He just knew they’d be on hands and knees for days straight cleaning. He sighed heavily. 

"Breakfast first?” Harry said hopefully. 

“As long as it's disgustingly greasy,” Louis pleaded. 

Harry gave him a far brighter smile than Louis would have thought possible with the hangover he knew he must be feeling. He remembered Harry karaoking Mariah Carey on the coffee table last night and taking a shot at every high note he couldn’t hit. He was a mess when he found Louis smoking with Zayn on the fire escape and nearly fell out of the window while making grabby hands for the joint. 

Harry made a full English, or at least as much of it as he could with the measly amount of food in their fridge since they’d only just gotten back into the country. But Louis ate the whole thing anyway and drank the biggest mug of tea he’d had since three all nighters during finals. He was going to need all the caffeine he could get with the amount of cleaning they had left. 

Harry pulled the rubber gloves out from the cabinet under the sink, as well as the whole roll of garbage bags and two different kinds of disinfectants. Louis started with gathering all the bottles and cans for the recycling. Harry grabbed the disinfectant and went to his room door. 

“Rather selfish to do your room first, Haz,” Louis said teasingly. 

“I walked in on two people I’d never seen before having sex in my bed and I think someone else was shagging in my closet,” Harry said darkly. “I have to clean the whole room.”

Louis laughed loudly at Harry’s sour expression and tossed an empty can of Bud Light at him. It landed at his feet and Harry tossed it right back, but it got caught in the air on the way and dropped in place, right onto Niall asleep on the couch. Niall groaned, but didn’t wake up. Louis had an idea, and it was definitely going to make him feel better. 

“Don’t do it, Lou,” Harry warned. 

“I don’t know what you mean,” Louis said, still grinning maniacally at Niall’s sleeping form.

“Don’t pelt him with cans while he’s passed out,” Harry clarified his warning. “Just let him sleep.” 

“If we have to clean, he should have to as well.” Louis pouted.

“To be fair, I saw him literally catch that girl Amy’s puke in his bare hands when she almost vommed on your Spider-Man statue, so I think he should get a pass.”

Louis frowned, mildly horrified. “In his bare hands?”

“He didn’t even look all that grossed out,” Harry said and nodded sagely. 

“Wow,” Louis whispered, mostly to himself. Harry nodded again before disappearing into his room. Louis spent the rest of the morning clearing the recycling. By the time he’d gotten all of the bottles and cans cleared he could see the rest of the damage. The floor was covered in empty crisps packets and candy wrappers and the remnants of the glitter bombs someone had brought. Also there was something that looked suspiciously like poutine on the walls and floor by his bedroom door. He sighed, resigned to the amount of work that was left. 

Niall woke up an hour or so after they started cleaning with a loud groan before springing up off the couch. “Sick party, huh?” He said to Louis, his voice all hoarse from sleep, but he sounded worlds better than Louis felt. 

“Fuck off and help me clean,” Louis said. 

“Sure, sure,” Niall said before closing himself into the bathroom. Louis meant to warn him that someone was asleep in the bathtub and he was pretty sure it was the kid Zayn that Harry almost died in front of. He was almost positive him and Zayn talked about getting matching tattoos last night because they both kept their weed in tupperware and that meant they were bonded for life. 

He heard the toilet flush and then murmuring in the bathroom before the shower started. Zayn didn’t come out and neither did Niall. Louis raised an eyebrow and gave the bathroom door a smirk. That little Irish devil. 

Louis moved into the kitchen and started scrubbing a very red and sticky stain on the counter. He was still working his way through it when Harry finally came back out. He had a pile of sheets and blankets in his arms. He walked past Louis and into the laundry room where he dumped them into the washer. 

“I thought about burning them,” Harry said as he walked into the kitchen. “Now that I’ve been in there, I think it might have been an orgy.”

“Oh really?” Louis turned around and leaned against the counter. 

“I found seven pairs of underwear that weren’t mine or yours or Niall’s.”

“Have you been cataloging our underwear?” Louis asked with a laugh.

“I’m literally the only person who does laundry. And none of these were any of ours. And I found them in the creepiest places. One was literally wrapped around my alarm clock. There was a thong as the bookmark in my Biology book. Why did they open my Biology book? I’m going to have to burn it and it costs a small fortune!” 

Louis had started laughing partway through Harry’s speech, and his laughs got louder as Harry got more worked up. 

“There was a pair of briefs stretched between the ends of my curtain rod!” Harry’s voice had gone a little high pitched. “What were they even doing in there, the pants olympics?”

Louis was bent over at the waist, his eyes tearing up from laughter. He wanted to comfort Harry, but he literally couldn’t get any words out. 

Harry huffed and left the room, but Louis could see a small smile curling the corner of his lips when he walked out. 

Louis calmed down enough to continue cleaning and twenty minutes later he realized that the shower was no longer running. He peaked around the wall to see that the bathroom door was open and the light was off. He turned to Niall’s room, but the door was open and similarly dark. That bastard had escaped. 

Louis went back into the kitchen and finished the countertop before literally and figuratively throwing in the towel. 

Ten minutes later he found himself in the same place he woke up that morning, on the floor of the living room, warming himself in the setting sun streaming through the window. He was just missing Harry in here next to him. 

“Harry!” He called out. He waited a second and was met with silence so he called out again, “Harry! Haz! H! Get out here!” 

Harry walked slowly out of his bedroom, his hair an absolute wreck and his shirt covered in some unknown substance. He looked exhausted and mildly annoyed. “What?”

Louis held his arms up. “Come here.”

Harry grumbled a little but sunk down to his knees and settled into Louis’ side for a cuddle. 

“Today’s been shit,” Louis said quietly. 

“Yeah,” Harry agreed. “But last night was amazing.”

Louis hummed in agreement. “Our first party was a roaring success. I think even Liam would have been impressed.”

“He’d tell you the apartment looked like a tornado hit it,” Harry said with a cheeky grin. 

Louis smiled down at him where Harry’s face was pressed into his shoulder. He was struck that even though their place was a mess and he’d spent the whole day cleaning, which is his least favorite thing ever, he didn’t mind all that much doing it with Harry.

“You know H, I take what I said back.” Harry looked up at him expectantly. “This day hasn’t been all that shit. I mean, yeah, you’ve got glitter in your hair and the floor is covered in crisps and candlewax and something that looks suspiciously like gravy, but it's not about that, right?”

“What do you mean?”

“We had a great time last night and this is part of it,” Louis said glancing around the room. “The gross part for sure, but we made the best memories.”

“We always make the best memories,” Harry said with a chuckle. 

Louis was quiet for a moment, because Harry was so right. His first year, when it had just been him and Niall, was fun, but it wasn’t like this. It wasn’t someone singing drunk karaoke to all your favorite songs and clutching onto someone as they hang headfirst out a window. It wasn’t holding your breath at midnight  _ just in case _ or waking up curled around your favorite person in the world. 

That was only ever this, right here, right now in his arms.

Louis squeezed his arms a little tighter around Harry. “All of my favorite memories are with you.”

Harry smiled up to him. Louis could feel his heart stutter in his chest and then he let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding. “Me too, Louis. Always.”

\---

Louis squeezed Harry’s hand as the plane landed in Toronto. It had snowed while he was in England, pouring his heart out to Harry. They had intended to come back immediately, but after his meeting with the Queen, they had holed up in Louis’ hotel room for a day and a half, learning what it meant to act on all of their impulses. Louis honestly had never been happier.

The plane bumped a bit when it landed and he stole a quick glance past Harry and out of the window to see a few people scattered about on the tarmac. He could see it was mostly the RCMP. The Captain let the cabin know they were free to disembark. 

Louis unbuckled his seatbelt and stood up. Harry climbed up after him and stood in front of Louis in the aisle, blocking the exit. He lifted his arm and placed his hand against Louis’ cheek. 

“I’m so glad you came after me,” Harry said with a grin.

Louis turned his head slightly and kissed Harry’s palm. “I shouldn’t have let you leave in the first place. You’re stuck with me now, Styles. For life.”

Harry’s grin grew wider. “I like the sound of that.”

Louis smiled back at him and debated briefly if they could get a snog in before they had to get off the plane. His thought process was cut off by his security calling for them to get moving. Harry dropped his hand and turned towards the exit.

Louis sighed in content as he started to follow, though that was cut short as Harry abruptly stopped, causing Louis to run into his back. Before Louis could ask what happened, Harry started laughing. Louis wondered for a split second if he’d just declared his love for a mental person, and then he saw it. 

First of all, his best friends hadn’t been subtle, not a single day in their lives.

Second, he was really glad he hadn’t injured or killed Liam like he had planned to get Harry back.

Niall and Liam were standing on the tarmac, holding the most ridiculous signs Louis had ever seen in his life. Niall’s had some glittery concoction on it that Louis wasn’t entirely sure wasn’t a penis with the words ‘Congratulations on your coupling!‘, and Liam’s was fashioning a pretty unicorn that said ‘Welcome Home Louis, Haz and the Mounties!’ Louis couldn’t help but laugh too as they made their way down the stairs. Liam liked to include Louis’ security, dubbed the Mounties, in these things, Louis knew, because as he’d been told several times by Liam, if there was a natural disaster and they had to pick who else to save besides the Prime Minister himself, Liam wanted them to remember who was nice to them.

“What in the bloody hell is this?” he asked. 

“Niall made me do it,” Liam said immediately.

“Oi, don’t be a pansy, Liam,” Niall snapped, though there was a huge grin on his face that didn’t quite match his words. “Besides, I’m not the one who went to the store  _ in the middle of the night _ , and got glitter.”

Liam blushed. “You promised you wouldn’t tell.”

“I lied,” Niall grinned. “Anyway, we’re happy to have you back, Prime Minister and boyfriend to the Prime Minister, especially now that you are heads-up-arses free.”

Louis rolled his eyes and with mock outrage for Harry he added, “He’s also special advisor.”

“No, I’m good with boyfriend to the Prime Minister,” Harry smiled at him. Louis grinned. “I also answer to Minister of Badassery, I’m just saying.”

Louis rolled his eyes again. 

“We’re happy you’re back, Haz,” Liam said sincerely.

“We’re especially happy you’re back without the prostitution charges,” Niall agreed.

Harry’s eyes widened, and he turned to face Louis, who was blushing profusely. “Prostitution charges?”

“I don’t know what they’re talking about,” Louis said, looking away awkwardly.

“Oh?” Liam glared at him. “You don’t recall threatening me with bodily harm to charge him with murder?”

“Don’t be so dramatic, Liam,” Louis scoffed. “You were just going to go on vacation so we could tell him you were dead to bring him back. He wasn’t going to murder you.”

Harry laughed. “I need to hear this story.”

“It’s probably better that you don’t,” Louis said.

“Come off it,” Niall said. “He needs to hear how desperate you were to get him back and be your boyfriend finally.”

“Desperate, huh?” Harry smirked at Louis. 

“Very,” Louis agreed, because there was no point lying and he wasn’t at all ashamed. He’d been a wreck, and now that he had Harry, now that he knew what life was like without him, he was never going to let Harry go. Something occurred to him. He pointed to Niall’s sign. “Speaking of, how’d you know we got together?”

Niall scoffed. “I’ll have you know, I didn’t get to where I am just off my good looks and Irish charm.”

“Of course not,” Liam said nonchalantly. “It was the booze.”

They all froze and looked at Liam. Louis was the first one to start laughing, though he was quickly followed by the other two boys. Liam was always so serious, and didn’t really make jokes often anymore, not like he used to when they were young lads running around Doncaster. Louis always seemed to forget that Liam was hilarious.

“Can we continue this on the way to the car?” He asked when they finally stopped laughing. The cold Canadian air was finally starting to get to him, and his fingers were frozen. Harry took Louis’ hand. Louis smiled back as Harry’s warmth spread to him.

They started walking to the airport building. “What do we have to do tomorrow?” Louis asked, hoping whatever it was could wait. He had been 20 years late finally getting Harry, and well, he wanted to enjoy that fully a tad bit more before getting back to his duties.

“Well, the Minister of Finance has requested a meeting, and then there’s the meeting with the Minister of Transport and —,” Liam stopped speaking when they all stopped walking and just glared at him. He rolled his eyes. “Maybe everything can be rescheduled to the afternoon?”

“That sounds like a much better idea,” Harry said. He smiled at Louis, and Louis knew Harry was thinking the same thing he was. Sure, they had forever to enjoy being together, but one more day to make up for lost time, well, no one could fault them for that.

“Better yet, let’s find a minister to marry these two morons before they mess this up,” Niall said, to which both Louis and Harry turned to glare at him. “Okay, okay, don’t get your panties in a twist. Though, I should warn you, I may or may not have told your mums to expect wedding invitations soon.”

Harry gripped Louis’ hand, hard. “You did  _ what? _ You couldn’t wait until we told them we were together first?”

“Or wait for us to actually say we were getting married,” Louis added.

“I know you fuckers ate my secret crisp stash,” Niall said nonchalantly. “You’re going to burn in hell, Tomlinson. In hell!”

“I wasn’t even here,” Harry rolled his eyes. “How would we have eaten it?”

“Then who ate it?” Niall demanded.

“Okay, fine it was me,” Liam blurted. They all gasped at him. “I’m sorry, I was working late with Winston to review disaster preparation and I hadn’t had dinner, and well, everyone knows where your stash is, I’m so sorry.”

“Oh,” Niall chuckled sheepishly. “Then, my bad, mates. You’ll, uh, probably want to call your mums soon because they kind of sounded pissed that you were together and in London and didn’t even tell them.”

Louis groaned. “I hate you, I really do.” He turned to face Harry. “Do you want to tell them or should I?”

“You should,” Harry said immediately. “After all, you are Prime Minister. It basically falls in your line of duty. Also, I’m a little scared.”

Louis rolled his eyes, but couldn’t even be mad. Because he was going to tell his mum and Anne that he and Harry were together and they were in love, and everything was perfect. No, they weren’t getting married yet, but Louis already knew one day they would. Louis knew he wanted to spend the rest of his life with Harry Styles, and that was exactly what he was going to do. Harry was his, and he was Harry’s.  

“Let’s go home first,” Louis said, squeezing Harry’s hand.

“Yeah, let’s go home,” Harry agreed, bringing Louis’ hand to his lips to place a light kiss on his knuckles.

Louis knew he had never felt as happy as he did in this moment. He’d been such an idiot for their years, not seeing what was right in front of him. But now he knew, and well, he’d have the rest of their lives to make up for it. And that was perfectly okay with him. 

  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> Kudos and comments are always appreciated! You can find us on tumblr at [ here](http://darkmarkburning.tumblr.com) & [here](http://harruandlou.tumblr.com) if you want to chat :) 
> 
> Thanks for reading!
> 
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> [Tumblr Post](http://harruandlou.tumblr.com/post/168450720220/and-i-will-hold-on-to-you-darkmarkburning)


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